Men who lose their beard because of alopecia areata may benefit from oral tofacitinib, Australian dermatologists report.

In what may be the first study of its kind, researchers from Sinclair Dermatology in Melbourne reviewed the records of adult male patients with scalp alopecia areata treated at their practice with the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor for at least three months between 2016 and 2019.

Among the 45 eligible patients with a median beard alopecia disease duration of 2.3 years, 42% had total beard loss, 53% had multiple discrete patches of beard alopecia and 4.5% had a single patch of beard alopecia pre-treatment.

After oral tofacitinib therapy at a mean of 7.2mg per day for an average of 16 months, 22% had complete beard regrowth, 42% had partial regrowth and 36% had no improvement, the authors reported in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.