THERAPEUTIC EXPERIMENTS IN ALOPECIA AREATA WITH ORALLY ADMINISTERED CORTISONE

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Abstract
A recent clinical and statistical study of 230 patients with alopecia areata, including the totalis and universalis varieties,1 revealed that although there is no evidence of endocrine abnormality in this disease, hormonal factors may play an accessory or modifying role in its course. It was found that (a) the course of alopecia areata is much severer when it begins before puberty; (b) some patients with alopecia totalis recover completely during pregnancy and lactation; and (c) some patients with alopecia areata have their onsets simultaneously with thyrotoxicosis. It was thought that endocrine substances may exert their modifying influence indirectly by altering the soil upon which the unknown causative agent of alopecia areata acts. With the advent of corticotropin (ACTH) and cortisone and after the report on the dramatic therapeutic effect of these hormones on rheumatoid arthritis,2 which, like alopecia areata, often shows considerable improvement during pregnancy, it seemed to

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