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Permalink Reply by kastababy on May 25, 2008 at 11:55pm

Hi Gabby!

I've lived with alopecia for 26 years -- and there are some wonderful people on this site who have lived with it for even longer -- and I can tell you there have been periods where my hair has grown back in, but for the most part my hair has been gone totally. I'm cool with it for the most part, just as I'm cool with having hair when I do have it. I think that the statement you made about the longer you have AA the less likely it is to come back is not entirely accurate. Once you develop AA, you will always have it -- although the older you are when you have a recurrence (if you've ever had any regrowth), the less likely it is that your hair will return. Please keep in mind, that NOTHING about alopecia is set in stone, so please keep researching alopecia and keep active on this site -- you will find lots of great information here!!

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Permalink Reply by Drew on May 26, 2008 at 11:49am

Hey gabby. As far as treatments here's what I've tried:

-Kenalog injections... This seems to be one of the most popular treatments around. A lot of people have said that they are very painful for them, I didn't really think they were too bad, but I have a good pain threshold. It feels like a pinch and then slight burning that goes away. I had regrowth in one spot (the original) a couple months after starting the injections but since then haven't had anything. Only downfall is I've gotten side effects from the steroids which include acne and have gained weight because of increased appitite.

-Topical Steroid... don't remember what the names of these because I just tossed them in the trash like two weeks ago. I tried one cream and then moved up to a stronger one. Didn't work, moved on to something else. I read somewhere that the creams and ointments put on the skin don't go deep enough to reach the hair follicle, but some people say they work.

-Elidel... This cream surpresses the immune system in the area that is applied to. It comes with a "Black Box" warning, which means it has some serious side effects, like lymphnode or skin cancer. However, as my doctor told me in all the studies with this drug they used huge amounts of it and applied it multiple times a day, so I was safe applying a little bit only once or twice a day. I took this for a little while about the time I had the regrowth, but I started it again for a few weeks in other spots and had no results at all so have stoped.

- I don't know about the name of this one cause I threw it out too, but it was some sort of acne medicine. It's hope was to use it to dry my skin out, and irritate it. My doctor said it would make my skin dry, ich, and flake in hopes of getting my immune system to recognize that something bad was going on there. I used it twice and then stoped because I shaved my head and didn't want flakes, and I use a moisturizure so I'm pretty sure it would counter act.

There are plenty of other treatments out there to try, these are only all the ones I've tried up to this point, but I've only had the disease since the end of last summer. Like others have said though, the treatments work for some people and don't for others. You can't really predict Alopecia, which is one of the things that makes the disease harder. I hope this helps you a little bit. Good luck with everything and keep us posted if you find any treatments that help.

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