Has anyone here been prescribed and used prednisolone? My dermatologist gave me a prescription for it, saying that she thinks my alopecia areata is pretty bad, and that this should help.

It is related to prednisone in that it is a corticosteroid product. She told me to take 100 ml a month (50 ml in the morn, and 50 ml at night for one day), and if it looks promising, she will continue on for a few months, with one dose a month. It is a 15mg/5ml solution (though I have no idea what that means).

All I really know is that the symptoms are similar to prednisone. I haven't found much information on people using it for alopecia.

Any help would be great!

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I just completed a 3 month pulse therapy (40mg down to 2.5mg) with prednisone after discussing the options with my dermatologist.  Health wise, I feel ok. I continued to stay active (gym 3-4x a week), my appetite increased, and had more mood swings.  

Results: I noticed growth in a few spots on my scalp, eyelashes and eyebrows, but this is probably due to the monthly steroid injections. As prednisone reduces inflammation, this allowed the injections to be somewhat effective.

Since stopping prednisone, the rate of shedding increased, new spots have appeared, and my eyebrows has disappeared.  i continue to receive injections, but they do not appear to be working.  

Thought i'd share my stories as I just completed the pulse a week ago.  running out of options and it is beyond frustrating :(

For those interested I came across the results of a study posted online regarding pulse therapy for an individual with AU. It suggests that those with AT or AU need a stronger pulse dosage over a bimonthly period in order to see results. It was successful in the case of the test subject detailed in the report.

Here is a link to to an Abstract description of the report:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16680269

Here is a link to download the full PDF of the report:

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&so...

I'd be interested to know if anyone has tried this and has had success with it.

As for the earlier report I posted, the following and later report negates the findings somewhat.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&so...

I hear very good things except that prednisolone (basically same as prednisone) is a very serious medication and when taken in high doses over a long periods it has  lifelong effects on other organs. For this reason i cannot find a doc in NYC willing to prescribe it & I have Alopecia Universalis!  Most of what I have heard is that this med often works well however as soon as it is discontinued the hair falls out again.  pulse therapy is a popular approach and small daily doses to maintain eyebrow & lashes have had good outcomes.  I have an appointment with Jerry Shapiro on Dec 30 and I am hoping to start pulse therapy with prednisolone.  Has anyone had any experience with Dr Jerry Shapiro? He is suppose to be the guru on these issues but I just can't imagine he knows something millions of other docs and researchers do not. He does not take insurance nd initial consult is $865.00 pluse every follow up visit is expensive...

anyway, best of luck to you & if you do some online reading you'll find lots of intervention outcomes with prednisolone and alopecia. Any feedback by anyone regarding Dr Jerry Shapiro would be so welcome...THANKS! :)

I just read your post which was from 2013. I was wondering if Dr. Shapiro helped you? Let me know Thanks

In 1998, I developed an allergy to NSAIDS--non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (like aspirin, motrin, ibuprofen, etc). For almost a year, I broke out with hives almost every day and it was totally miserable. I took prednisone almost every day for that year, and when I actually got over it was when they put me on a decreasing dosage starting at 80mg over a period of a couple of weeks. During that year, and I remember it well, I grew back both pubic and underarm hair, though considerably less than most men. The steroids also made me develop something called "moon face," in that my face became bloated and rounded as if I was obese. Both those things are side effects of prednisone, since it is a steroid. The hair, to my chagrin, slowly fell out again over a period of a couple of months, but the moonface stayed with me for quite awhile...probably a year. Now, on very rare occasions, I break out with a rash, or I have a bout with gout, or something and they give me something called a Z-pack, which is a decreasing doage over a period of days. I'm always very wary of prednisone, but even though I know that for short-term usage, it works wonders, but for long term usage, it comes with too much baggage. Ted

I agree Ted, prednisone is good to take long term. After 4 years I ended up with the start of a moonface and that was after I'd decreased dosage to 5mg...It also left me with arthritis in my spine. This year I broke out in hives and am coping by using a topical cortisoid but after some months I still suffer with them. I now take plaquinil which seems to help with the more severe pain in my hips from my other auto immune condition. Prednisone didn't help to regrow my hair unfortunately as I probably didn't sustain a high dosage.

Hi.   My 22 month old daughter just finished taking orally the Prednisolone once a month for 3 months.  Amount was 10 ml each time based on her weight.  The premise is to jump start the body in erradicating whatever internal inflammation there is, and hopefully start the hair regrowth.  There should be no side effect because this is just mini pulse therapy. 

 

Prednisolone is also used for treatment of  asthma, allergies, etc.  So far my daughter is ok,  we are seeing more hair sprouts in her scalp.  We are still doing the topical application of  Rogaine 2% and 5% floucinonide (cortisone ointment) for 2 weeks, then 1 week break. 

 

So we think we are on the right track...

 

Long term therapy of Prednisolone is when you get bad side effects --- stunt growth,  hyperactivity, skin becomes thin, etc.

 

Regina

Regina did the prednisolone work

Does it do the same thing to your immune system as prednisone does? I was on prednisone for a month, and although it made me ridiculously out of it and high, it actually worked. So if this is similar and doesn't affect the immune system so dangerously, I want in, too! Let me know if you find anything out or if it works. I took 20mg for the first week, 10mg for the second and 5 for the third. I was very skeptical and hated the side effects but it worked. Faster and better than any topical steroids and cortisone shots. It's the only thing that worked for me, I haven't had any loss for the last 3 months, up until last week, so I'm thinking about going back on it.

I am not sure but I took prednisone for a year, not a high dose, but maybe 20 mg a day? My hair grew in EVERYWHERE and life was great, haha. But my face blew up like a blimp, I gained weight, I was irritable, and the worst symptom: I got a bubble in my retina in my eye from steroid overdose! It did heal on its own but my prior perfect vision is gone and I must wear glasses now. It could have been worse. Just keep in mind the side effects...But that was for ORAL prednisone. A month after tapering off completely, my hair started falling back out, and has not fully grown in again since. Now I use just topical treatments plus I take a high dose of Biotin. At the derm I receive Kenalog injections which do work miracles, but you can't inject every bald spot on your entire scalp. It causes a weird waviness to your skin on your scalp too. Anyway, my whole point was, I would see if the symptoms of the topical drug are similar, if so, be careful, especially with your eyes. Keep an EYE on your eyes, haha, and make sure you see an opthalmologist if you start seeing anything weird. I noticed when one day at work, my computer was wavy down the middle. FUN. Good luck!

I also used Prednisone, but I stopped using on their own and I also stopped my treatment, as I have a change in the thyroid, I am hopeful that this is the reason for my hair loss, I not started to treat my thyroid yet, because it is hard to find endocrinologists here in Brasilia.

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