Comparison of the Treatment Outcome of Oral Tofacitinib with Other Conventional Therapies in Refractory Alopecia Totalis and Universalis: A Retrospective Study

In a 2018 retrospective study, the efficacy and tolerability of oral tofacitinib were evaluated in 74 patients with refractory alopecia totalis (AT) and alopecia universalis (AU) and compared with conventional oral treatments and DPCP immunotherapy. The study found that 44.4% of patients treated with tofacitinib showed a 50% improvement in SALT score after 6 months, which was higher than the 37.5% improvement in the conventional treatment group and 11.1% in the DPCP group. Adverse drug reactions were lower in the tofacitinib group (10%) compared to the conventional treatment group (73.1%) and similar to the DPCP group (10%). The study suggests that tofacitinib is more effective and tolerable than DPCP immunotherapy and conventional treatments for AT/AU, but it also notes the need for further research due to limitations such as its retrospective design, small sample size, and short observational period.