What treatments are available where greater than 50 percent hair is lost?
Cortisone pills. Cortisone pills are sometimes given for extensive scalp hair loss. Cortisone taken internally is much stronger than local injections of cortisone into the skin. It is necessary to discuss possible side effects of cortisone pills with your physician. Healthy young adults often tolerate cortisone pills with few side effects. In general, however, cortisone pills are used in relatively few patients with alopecia areata due to health risks from prolonged use. Also, regrown hair is likely to fall out when the cortisone pills are stopped. Topical minoxidil. Topical immunotherapy. Another method of treating alopecia areata or alopecia totalis/universalis, is known as topical immunotherapy and it involves producing an allergic rash or allergic contact dermatitis. Chemicals such as diphencyprone (DPCP) or squaric acid dibutyl ester (SADBE) are applied to the scalp to produce an allergic rash which resembles poison oak or ivy. Approximately 40% of patients treated with topical im
