Hello.  I've been reading this discussion board for a week, since I was diagnosed with FFA on Feb. 12th.  I'm 54 years old and lost my eyebrows probably 3 years ago which, at the time, I attributed to a side effect of 5 years on Tomoxifen.  I've adjusted to that and don't care much about my eyebrows now.  However, I noticed a few weeks ago that my hairline had started to recede and I already had a skin screening appointment scheduled with a dermatologist.  The minute he pulled my hair back he could see the hair loss. I mentioned my eyebrow loss, he looked closer and said my pattern was classic frontal fibrosing alopecia.  He told me a bit about it and recommended I go do some research on it.  He said the hair loss I've already suffered is irreversible, there are some treatments that work for some people, including some medications used to treat prostate conditions, but there is no known cure.  I asked if it would get worse, and he said it likely could.  Lovely.  He told me to contact him, if I decided I wanted to "try" something.

I've been doing lots of online research and have read what I can in old posts here.  Since I had very early stage breast cancer and a family history of the same, I am not interested in hormone therapies.  I've read FFA is an auto-immune condition, but I've also read that the hair follicle becomes inflamed, dies and the scar tissue prevents regrowth.

Here are my questions for you all:

1) Has anyone had any good results changing to an anti-inflammatory diet (like Dr. Andrew Weil's)?

2) Has anyone had any good results with acupuncture?

3) Has anyone had any good results with a course of steroids followed by tetracycline antibiotics?

4) Has anyone tried Serrapeptase - an enzyme which is supposed to dissolve "hard" tissues, like scar tissue?  If so, any positive effect?

I've read that many people have inflammation basically out of control in their bodies, so my mind is wondering "is inflammation the culprit here?" and will reducing it help?

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge and any experiences that might be helpful with the above.

K