Shiro Fukai, 48, drinks distilled spirit next to manager Yoshiko Toyoda (L) at the Otasuke "izakaya" style pub and restaurant in Tokyo May 8, 2014.
Shiro Fukai, 48, drinks distilled spirit next to manager Yoshiko Toyoda (L) at the Otasuke "izakaya" style pub and restaurant in Tokyo May 8, 2014. Reuters

Irrespective of the gender, loss of hair is not just a problem; it is a mental pain as well. Enormous amount of research is taking place across the world to find out better solution for intense hair fall.

And as of now, it seems like that the success is not that far away.

Alopecia is a condition under which hair gets lost from some or all areas of the body, mostly from the scalp. It is a common autoimmune disease that can cause complete hair loss.

Doctors conducted a pilot trial using one pill that was supposed to cure alopecia baldness, and the end result was dramatic. They could fully restore the hair of three patients who were involved in the trial.

The process started with the identification of the immune cells that are responsible for destroying hair follicles in people suffering from alopecia.

According to the report by Daily Mirror, all three patients experienced complete hair growth after four or five months of treatment with the drug ruxolitinib.

"We've only begun testing the drug in patients, but if the drug continues to be successful and safe, it will have a dramatic positive impact on the lives of people with this disease," lead scientist Dr Raphael Clynes, from Columbia University Medical Center in New York, was quoted saying.

But the team concluded that further investigations are required before using this drug as a stable treatment for baldness.

Former model and TV presenter Gail Porter was one of the most well-known faces who suffered from alopecia among 6.5 million men in UK.

Following the trial, tests were conducted on mice with two new drugs known as JAK inhibitors that can be taken in pill form and block immune pathways.

As explained by the Telegraph, Ruxolitinib is used for the treatment of one form of bone marrow cancer in both the US and EU The other drug, tofacitinib, is licensed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in the US but not Europe.

In these experiments, both drugs completely restored the hair of animals with alopecia within 12 weeks.

"We still need to do more testing to establish that ruxolitinib should be used in alopecia areata, but this is exciting news for patients and their physicians," Clynes said.