Have we finally found a way to reverse balding?

Hair loss can be one of the worst issues for people looking to maintain their appearance, and while a number of products exist on the market to slow down the process, nothing as of yet has been able to bring back the hair that has been lost.

That may all be about to change, however, with new research investigating the medication ruxolitinib.

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Though developed as a drug to treat people with myelofibrosis, a serious bone marrow disorder, ruxolitinib has shown promise in the reversal of alopecia areata. According to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, this particular form of hair loss is the result of an autoimmune skin disease. Approximately 2 percent of the global population has some degree of alopecia areata, with more than 6 million cases in the U.S. alone.

In the small-scale preliminary research individuals who took ruxolitinib daily for four to five months saw a complete regrowth of their hair.

“Additional clinical trials are needed to test the effectiveness of this drug in more patients in larger studies,” said study author Angela M. Christiano to Live Science. “However, for patients with alopecia areata, this is an exciting result, because it offers a potential new class of drugs that have not been tried before in this disease, with some promising early results.”

In addition to concluding there may be a way to reverse balding, experts were also able to identify exactly how alopecia areata destroys hair follicles. Though experts had known for some time the process was the result of cells attacking the hair, until now they did not know which cells were responsible for the immune response.

The new data suggests alopecia areata is caused by a certain form of T cell. When medications that inhibit those T cells, known as JAK inhibitors, are introduced into the body, the cells vanish from the hair follicles and hair starts to regrow. Researchers saw this result first in rodent studies and then in a small trial study of several people with alopecia areata.

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“We believe this is a very exciting step forward for the treatment of alopecia areata,” Christiano said. “We hope these findings will inspire future efforts to pursue the development of JAK inhibitors for this disease and represent a first rationally-selected treatment based on some exciting new scientific findings. In patients who do not have chronic illnesses and are otherwise healthy, the likelihood of side effects [from taking ruxolitinib] is smaller than in patients who have chronic illnesses,” she said. “Side effects can include infection, and changes in certain blood tests such as a drop in platelets or anemia.”

Currently there are no products approved by the FDA to reverse balding in patients with alopecia areata, but that may soon change. Ruxolitinib is already FDA approved for a different medical condition which shortens the approval process for secondary uses.