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Yale Scientists May Have Cured Baldness

In big breakthrough news of the week, scientists at Yale University may have discovered a cure for baldness. However, you may want to stuff that fistful of cash back in your pocket because the treatment was for a person suffering from alopecia universalis, a rare autoimmune disease that causes whole body hair loss.

Using an FDA-approved arthritis drug, a 25-year-old man grew a full head of hair in 8 months. This along with all the other body hair you’d expect on a person. The best part? No side effects.

King believed it might be possible to address both diseases simultaneously using an existing FDA-approved drug for rheumatoid arthritis called tofacitinib citrate. The drug had been used successfully for treating psoriasis in humans. It had also reversed alopecia areata, a less extreme form of alopecia, in mice.

“There are no good options for long-term treatment of alopecia universalis,” said King, a clinician interested in the treatment of rare but devastating skin diseases. “The best available science suggested this might work, and it has.”

Sadly, sufferers of male pattern baldness may not get the same benefit as that’s less autoimmune disease and more miniaturization of hair follicles. Scientists, however, say that who knows. If this treats one type of alopecia, it might treat another. Still, I’d label that as cautious optimism. Sorry to get your hopes up, bro. Better put that hat back on.

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