I am fairly new to this website, but i have decided to try to reach out and answer some questions. I have had AA for 4 or five years. Started out very minimal and after some steroid injections from my dermatologist, it grew back fairly quickly. I had a few spots come and go and received steroid injections every month for about 6 months. It was all good ( only about one small spot) until i started my second year at college. I was not stressed to start (actually very excited), but as soon as i came to school my hair started to shed. I was put on prednisone about 3 weeks ago to stop the hair from falling out, but it has not worked. I am slowly tapering off the prednisone ( now on 50mg). I have also been using a topical JAK inhibitor ( Tofacitinib 2% topical cream) that i  have been applying twice a day for the past month or so. I have had very minimal hair regrowth but there is still a little hair coming back just in one spot from what i can tell. My hair is still falling out and my spots are getting larger and larger. I probably have lost 35-40% of my hair and it does not look like it is stopping. I still have my eyelashes and eyebrows.

I was wondering if there is there still hope left for me or should i plan to lose all of my hair?  What other steps are there? Is there any way to stop the shedding? Is it worth trying Xeljanz?  If so what are the side effects and what is stopping people from taking it? What about topical immunotherapy or does that have a very large relapse rate? 

I would very very very much appreciate any responses, the last few months have not been the easiest for me.

Thank you very much.

AC