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Another interesting case
Alopecia universalis: hair growth following initiation of simvastatin and ezetimibe therapy
http://www.biomedsearch.com/article/Alopecia-universalis-hair-growt...
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Manuela on
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Stanno sperimentando questa cura a Bologna ( Italia ).
So che la Dottoressa Tosti sta sperimantando questa cura, è una cosa abbastanZa recente, ma so che ci sono delle conferme.THEY'RE EXPERIMENTING THIS CARE IN BOLOGNA (ITALY).
I KNOW THAT DR. TOSTI IS EXPERIMENTING THIS CARE, IS A THING FAIRLY RECENT, BUT I KNOW THAT THERE ARE SOME RESULTS.
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Thanks for sharing the article.
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Permalink Reply by Scott James on
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Here's the link to an ongoing study in the use of Simvastatin & Ezetimibe (Vytorin) for the treatment of AA. Results out July 2013 (estimated). The study is being undertaken by the University of Miami.
Link: Vytorin in the Treatment of Alopecia Areata
I did contact the administrator of the course who provided the following info:
- It is too early in the study for conclusions to be drawn but some have had resolution of alopecia. Of course sometimes it may resolve spontaneously and therefore we are gathering a larger cohort.
- Universalis/Totalis has not been included in our trial. Those with success have had total regrowth and were all initially 40-80% hairloss..
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This might be a promising therapy. What about the side effects? Cholesterol is a very important molecule for the body, taking the drug could potentially lower it to dangerous levels in healthy people.
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You would need to be under GP supervision if taking these drugs. The GP will routinely run the necessary checks on your blood to ensure you aren't putting yourself at risk.
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Out of curiousity I contacted the author of the 2007 study 'Alopecia universalis: hair growth following initiation of simvastatin and ezetimibe therapy' (referenced in thread intro). He provided the following further information on his patient who experienced regrowth:
"I didn't see the patient until he had been on the vytorin for 6 months by which point he already had significant regrowth, but he told me that he first began to notice regrowth by the end of the first month. Therfore taking the meds for 2 months should be an adequate trial to see whether it will work or not. This therapy seems to work well for some patients but not at all for others probably because the immunological mechanisms controlling the condition vary greatly among individual patients. Although I haven't spoken to him recently the patient described in my article did have long term hair growth. Douglas N. Robins"
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Quite interesting. This doctor points out one very important aspect that explains in my view why several studies fail to achieve valuable results: they mix all sorts of patients! It's crucial in my view to start studying subgroups in an attempt to unveil the mechanisms of the disease. I might try either this or inosiplex. I've recently given up DPCP because of its side effects.
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After reading the doctors response I was thinking the same thing about identifying and studying subgroups as well.
I'd never heard of Inosiplex before so I Googled it and found the following study : A randomized double-blind study of inosiplex (isoprinosine) therapy....
What's interesting is that it is actually an immuno-stimulant as opposed to an immuno-suppressant. So rather than suppressing the body's immune system (in the hope that the immune system will stop attacking the hair follicles) this drug works the other way around and boosts the body's immune system. This is of further interest to me as it was whilst I was taken an immuno-suppressant drug, Cyclosporine, that my AA was suddenly triggered into becoming AU. Prior to AA I'd been using steriod creams (immuno-suppressant) for years to treat eczema. I also used these same steriod creams on my AA patches as directed by my doctor because he said the immuno-suppressant effect should induce regrowth. However, the patches only got worse. To summarise, I'm left wondering if it was suppressing my body's immune system that caused all the problems in the first place.
In any event, we come back to this idea of identifying subgroups; perhaps those who need their immune-system suppressed to see regrowth and those who need their immune-system stimulated (boosted). Ultimately, the attempt is to balance the body's immune system.
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I also tried cyclosporine with good results, but I had to stop due to side effects, and I came to the conclusion that I shouldn't even have started. When I stopped, the evolution was tremendous: I'm already AT and will become AU.
Anyway, I'm not sure if the question is suppress vs boost. It seems that inosiplex helps "fixing" something that is wrong with the immune system. So not really boost (but I might have gotten it wrong). Whist cyclosporine is really suppressing the immune so definitely not recommendable.
I've been doing some research over google scholar and as potentially interesting there's also sulfasalazine (but it seems that its safety profile is a bit more troublesome) and quercetin (with apparently less powerful effects).
Apart from that there are studies employing anti-depressants and hypnosis, but the latest results from hypnosis show that it just supports other treatments. But could be worth exploiting.
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I've given up with Inosiplex. No visible improvements after 4 months. It could be that my stage is too advanced for this drug, or it could be a dose related thing, or... Anyway, I won't try this again but I'll start another "experiment" with another drug called fumaderm (in Germany) or fumaraat (in the Netherlands), which is the commercial name of certain fumaric acid esters used for psoriasis in these countries. There seems to be good results, and recent, for alopecia areata. I'll give it a try.
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