Drug Points: Remission of Alopecia Universalis During Sulphasalazine Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis

In 1989, Drs. A S M Jawad and D G I Scott reported a case of a 34-year-old woman with a 30-year history of alopecia universalis who experienced hair regrowth during treatment with sulphasalazine for rheumatoid arthritis. The patient had been bald since the age of 3 and had no history of atopic diseases. After starting sulphasalazine treatment, her arthritis symptoms improved, and simultaneously, her hair began to grow back for the first time in three decades, including eyebrows, eyelashes, and scalp hair. A year later, she no longer needed a wig. The authors suggested that the hair regrowth might be related to the sulphasalazine treatment, given the strong temporal correlation between the drug's administration, the remission of arthritis, and the onset of hair regrowth. They proposed that the potential benefits of sulphasalazine for patients with alopecia areata should be further investigated in a prospective study.