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Treatment - Onion Juice. Does it work?
I read the abstract on the onion juice study -- one direct reference at National Library of Medicine (PubMed) is here (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20120427) and it sounded positive. I then tried it for about 3 - 4 weeks, juicing regular onions, applying at night about 50% of the time, and I did not see results. I found it hard to follow twice daily because of the smell and seeming mess in my remaining hair. The study indicates:
"The two groups were advised to apply the treatment twice daily for two months. Re-growth of terminal coarse hairs started after two weeks of treatment with crude onion juice. At four weeks, hair re-growth was seen in 17 patients (73.9%), and, at six weeks, the hair re-growth was observed in 20 patients (86.9%) and was significantly higher among males (93.7%) compared to females (71.4%)"
The question I have is, have you tried to follow this regimen, and if so, how well did you stick to it, and what results did you get. Thanks.
"The two groups were advised to apply the treatment twice daily for two months. Re-growth of terminal coarse hairs started after two weeks of treatment with crude onion juice. At four weeks, hair re-growth was seen in 17 patients (73.9%), and, at six weeks, the hair re-growth was observed in 20 patients (86.9%) and was significantly higher among males (93.7%) compared to females (71.4%)"
The question I have is, have you tried to follow this regimen, and if so, how well did you stick to it, and what results did you get. Thanks.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by BaldGirlsDoLunch.org on
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Dermatologists world-wide really do want to help their patients. They are not keeping any "miracle" treatment from their patients. If any of these things were proven effective, your dermatologist would be the first to tell you to go out and do it.
Even the ancients used everything, including onion juice, they could get their hands on to stimulate hair growth stopped due to alopecias. Do topical irritants have some effect in some people to allow hair regrowth by diverting lymphocytes to another area away from the bulb of the follicle? Yes, temporarily. Can irritants reverse the disease process? No. If the disease process of alopecia areata is still active can the irritant prevent new areas from losing hair? No.
Hope that helps.
Thea
join our list at www.baldgirlsdolunch.org
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Permalink Reply by Reto on
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My experience is that dermatologists primarily only help when it comes to giving something from "their basket", which is pharmaceutical drugs. This makes sense since this is their training -- they don't in general focus on nutrition, excercise, or other natural herbs, etc. as healing modalities.
I personally don't find your second comment helps, unless there are actual references to other studies you have seen of the "ancients", that you provide a link to for evaluation. Also, your statement that the ingredient in onion juice -- if it works -- is working as an irritant is just an assumption, in my opinion. First hand, I have tried standard medical irritants and onion juice, and the former felt like an irritant, but the latter (onion juice) did not.
My request to you going forward would be to please disregard my posts regarding treatment evaluations unless you can refer or provide some specific clear information. Poo-pooing things is not helpful. I think you can agree the objective in these types of things is to find out, using the KNOWLEDGE of a group -- from actual experience and actual believable references -- if something either helps or does not help for alopecia.
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Permalink Reply by Lee on
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In my opinion Thea is right. Accepting alopecia can be very difficult, I know. I spent sooo much time and money on treatments. You name it, I've done it. If onion juice actually worked, don't you think all of our doctors would be telling us about it? I understand it's frustrating, but you will soon learn that miracle cures do not work ; /
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No, I don't think so. Doctors don't evaluate stuff like that. Why don't you read the study, and then ask your doctor if he has read the study, and see if he knows about it.
Also, I've been dealing with Alopecia for 15 years. I'm not new to it. My hair has come and gone twice. Unfortunately it is on the way out again.
What is the point of this forum if it is not positive, proactive and open, instead of doubtful and negative???? At least say, well, let me ask my doctor about it instead of assuming he knows. Perhaps the PubMed.com research article was fabricated, it's possible. So, rather than assuming that it was, why not ask your doctor about it and see if he knows. Rather than assuming "no solution", why not say "I don't know, let me ask my doctor". What is the point of even responding if it is a negative viewpoint WITH nothing substantial behind it but an assumption, that is to the negative (instead of openness and positiveness).
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Another thought: you'd think instead of the replies I'm getting here, there would be 10 replies that say "yah, I've tried that study for 6 weeks, and my results were ...".
Absolutely Incredible. Makes me wonder!!
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I follow the science. I follow it very carefully. And then I publish the links to the original sources and tell you where you can read the abstract or obtain a copy. To understand the most current state of best practices for treatments of alopecia areata, get a copy of this article.
I publish the links in my blog and on the research and treatment pages at www.baldgirlsdolunch.org which is now THE most up to date website for alopecia research follow up for which the American Academy of Dermatology gave BGDL two awards. We're a resource for all alopecians, not just women. I publish the results to studies that the original funders of the studies don't even make available to their donors. After money goes to research, alopecians have a right to know where it went, the limitations of it's purpose ( usually very limited) and what resulted. I provide links to studies long forgotten after the misplaced enthusiasm for them ( as if each was the newest breakthrough since penicillin) has faded.
Here in one place is a growing list which I update for alopecians of the most ( and the most recent is February, 2010 by world renowned dermatology hair reseachers Drs. Shapiro and McKelwee) up to date knowledge for diagnosis and treatment of alopecia areata specifically.
I've also recently posted "Know Your Numbers" to explain the difference between statistical prevalence and incidence and why 4-5 million Americans do not now currently have a diagnosis of alop... Far from it.
Alopecians deserve accurate information and lots of it. It's my interest to do that.
Thea
Follow the science, put a news feed on my blog and join the list at baldgirlsdolunch.org
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Permalink Reply by Suzi on
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Modern science can not help us, so what we should do then?
Just wait for them to come up with something, or try to find by ourselves some kind of solution.
If they are not able to find something, this does not mean that there is no hope or possible cure somewhere else. It is very dangerous for our health to count only on them!
People have the right to try everything they can in order to get better...
First 6 months I try with the science, and except side affect and pain I didn't get anything else.
My only regret is why o why I stayed and believed in them so long, because the treatment I am using right now is 100% better then everything they have to offer.
And yes, there is no scientific proof that this works, but hey I don't really care.
My new hair is the only proof I care about!
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That's the whole point which many find difficult to live with. You have a condition that may not be treatable. There are no cures for any autoimmune disease known to man, though there are some treatments that sort of make it ok so people can function, sort of.
This condition can get better all my itself doing nothing at all. 80% of new mild cases are resolved with no treatment within a year. Which is why anything product scammers sell has a high probability of appearing to be beneficial to your hair and certainly beneficial to their bank accounts.
There are no good treatments for most advanced cases of alopecia, unless you are ok with the potential risks of systemic steroids and potent contact sensitizers which will grow hair in up to 60% of people but with a well documented high relapse rate and unknown side effects. Make your choice, take your chances.
There are some things that work for some patchy cases most of the time, but cannot prevent new patches from forming. It's worth trying the ones proven to work and see if it works for you.
Stay informed and be realistic about what is known and what is possible.
Read the links on sites like mine to know what the most up to date treatments are and see which ones are now falling out of use (like PUVA) for posing an unacceptable level of risk (skin cancer). Seek out the most educated dermatologist to discuss which treatments are most suitable at what stage, what age and what the risks are.
The top researchers have been making it very clear for a long time that there are no cures and limited successes with moderate to severe cases. If it works for you or your alopecia goes in spontaneous remission it's a wonderful thing and hopefully remission lasts a very long time....even forever.
If people with alopecia choose to find their own solution, I wish them well on the journey but hope they weigh the risks and the costs. But those who do that are often on a never- ending roller coaster of high expectation and deep disappointment.
Try to understand motivation and why there's a need to keep trying unproven applications. For some, there's an underlying need to perpetuate self-misery..so if you seek new unproven treatments and they always fail, those folks can turn to friends and say," See? I have a reason to be miserable".
Being realistic about the condition and doing whatever it takes to feel fantastic are the tools each of us has 100% control over to ensure a blessed and beautiful life.
Thea
Put a feed to my blog on your google or yahoo home page from baldgirlsdolunch.org
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Santer on
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I haven't tried it. The abstract is intriguing, but it was done on VERY few patients. I don't have access to the full article, but the abstract doesn't say how long the regrowth lasted. The article was published 8 years ago. My bet is that if it really worked, we would know it by now, & a lot of us would be walking around smelling of onions. Personally, I think I'm more attractive bald and fresh-smelling.
The issue of looking for a cure/treatment is interesting. Over my lifetime, I've had a few chronic conditions. The meds for asthma have improved dramatically, and I've gone from severe asthma to living as if I don't have it (except taking 1 med). The treatments for alopecia (and my disabling inner ear problem) don't seem to be progressing in the same way. I've coped with that by letting go of the urgent desire and effort for those conditions to get better/go away. Instead, I focus my coping energy on how to live a really full and satisfying life NOW--bald and dizzy. If either condition ever goes away, with treatment or spontaneously, fine, but I'm not waiting for that in order to be happy.
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Reto, I am not trying to be negative. I do beleive that there is a cure out there, somewhere. However, the reason why I think it's important to steer clear of posts like this is because it gets peoples hopes up....and will probably not work. Now, if youve tried it, and it worked, that is useful. So sorry for the negativity. Constant disapointment can hurt people more mentally, than alopecia will physically. When I stopped looking for a miracle cure, and accepted it, I was happy.
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Permalink Reply by Galvin on
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According to the study in the first paragraph
it states....." in addition to the continuation of intra-lesional corticosteroid injections."
The onion juice is not growing hair by itself, its the steriods.
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Galvin -- sorry that link got messed up somehow. Here is the text of the abstract of the study:
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J Dermatol. 2002 Jun;29(6):343-6.
Onion juice (Allium cepa L.), a new topical treatment for alopecia areata.
Sharquie KE, Al-Obaidi HK.
Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Iraq.
Alopecia areata is a patchy, non-scarring hair loss condition. Any hair-bearing surface may be involved, and different modalities of treatment have been used to induce hair regrowth. This study was designed to test the effectiveness of topical crude onion juice in the treatment of patchy alopecia areata in comparison with tap water. The patients were divided into two groups. The first group [onion juice treated] consisted of 23 patients, 16 males (69.5%) and 7 females (30.5%). Their ages ranged between 5-42 years with a mean of 22.7 years. The second group [control; tap-water-treated] consisted of 15 patients, 8 males (53.3%) and 7 females (46.6%). Their ages ranged between 3-35 years with a mean of 18.3 years. The two groups were advised to apply the treatment twice daily for two months. Re-growth of terminal coarse hairs started after two weeks of treatment with crude onion juice. At four weeks, hair re-growth was seen in 17 patients (73.9%), and, at six weeks, the hair re-growth was observed in 20 patients (86.9%) and was significantly higher among males (93.7%) compared to females (71.4%) P<0.0001. In the tap-water treated-control group, hair re-growth was apparent in only 2 patients (13%) at 8 weeks of treatment with no sex difference. The present study showed that the use of crude onion juice gave significantly higher results with regard to hair re-growth than did tap water (P<0.0001), and that it can be an effective topical therapy for patchy alopecia areata.
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