Stress Management

Cortisone Injection May be Beneficial for Alopecia Areata

A Holisticonline.com faithful reports that occasional injection of Cortisone to affected area had helped her re-grow lost hair. The letter is reproduced in its entirely below. It definitely is an interesting and simple treatment. 

This letter has stimulated several emails. I am attaching one we have received recently. See below.

 -ed.

Hi, first I want to commend you on your wonderful website. You've done a super job and are a blessing to a lot of people in search of info.

Secondly, I have a suggestion to be added to your alopecia treatment page, one that TRULY WORKS... at least in ALOPECIA AREATA.. a condition of patchy hair loss. 

I've been suffering from that condition since in my 20's and after getting over the initial shock, fortunately I went to the USAF Hospital in Wiesbaden, where a Dermatologist diagnosed the condition and then injected a dose of Cortisone into the area of alopecia. The injection does not hurt as it is delivered under the skin only, and within 2-3 weeks I saw re-growth. The only side-effect is that where the injection is delivered there will be like a 'dent' in the area for a while, nothing serious and it goes away after a while.

Having experienced a second episode while in the USA, I contacted my regular MD and told him what I needed - he first hesitated and gave me an injection into my butt (I told him that this would not work and that I was not looking for a horse-tail but to re-grow my head-hair) which did not work and so I went back and received a shot into the alopecia areata area and this time again, it worked. Moving during my life-time, I had to get a few personal physicians, and each time I experienced another episode of AA I would ask them for an injection and each time it would work.

I am not sure that it works for TOTAL Alopecia - but it certainly works for Alopecia Areata and is certainly worth a trial instead of using Rogaine or other questionable products. It's not a homeopathic remedy, unfortunately, but I prefer a Cortisone shot anytime to treatment such as Rogaine or the like.

It certainly has been a success story for me, I have had at least 10-12 episodes of Alopecia areata and EACH time my hair grew back after the cortisone injection. You may want to add it to your list of treatments for alopecia areata.

Best wishes to you and many blessings,

Ruth 

Another Letter

You have a helpful and informative site. I am very impressed.

I also want to comment on the Alopecia Areata letter which referred to injection shots of cortisone. I had hair loss patches on my face and on the back of my head. By applying Cortisone cream, the hair on my head grew back within a month. However, the patches on my face remained. After meeting with a specialist and taking the cortisone shot, the hair grew back.

I recommend the cortisone shot as well. However, if you are contemplating whether or not to have an injection, you may want to consider applying the cream before taking the shot.