Steroid Injections

[RadiantNeedle]

Have any of you had them to combat hair loss or refill bald spots?
Did they work?
What was the experience like in terms of pain, recovery, adverse reactions?
What sorts of steroids where they?

I ask because I'm probably at the point where I need to decide if I'm going to get injections. I've improved my scalp health, but my hair is still falling out to the point that my scalp is more visible week by week.

[RadiantNeedle]

Bumping in case anyone who can help me has missed the thread.

[MandyBeth]

Had steriod injections for joint problems and they up my shed rate for a good month. Not sure I'd try them. Plus, nasty painful.

[cataphract]

I believe my brother did a steroid cream when his hair started falling out in odd patches. It doesn't seem to have worked. Sorry :( Maybe someone else can chime in with better results or things to try.

Have you tried any supplements?

[RadiantNeedle]

I have used a steroid gel on and off for the past.. Year and a half? It helped with some of the symptoms that I actually have been able to manage and largely eliminate with ACV rinses, but not with the hair loss.

I take a multivitamin with B vitamins and Biotin, as well as a Fish Oil supplement, but I'm hesitant to increase the Biotin intake because I'm also trying to manage bad acne.

[imrightw]

I had steroid injections due to alopecia areata. The injections were given in my buttocks, except for the final injections which were in the bald areas of my scalp. I used a numbing cream prior to the scalp injections.

The bald patches in my scalp cleared up. But I also started experiencing facial hair growth. The doctor had me on 5000 mcg of Biotin, which I still take.

I think the faical hair growth is tapering off and I have not had a reoccurence of the aplopecia.

Th last injection was in April of this year.

[sweetm]

I am a long time sufferer of alopecia areata - when hair falls out in patches. Every now and then, I will get bald patches ranging in size from a penny to larger than a quarter.

I've tried various treatments over the years, and doctors tell me that the hair will usually come back on its own... but that wasn't the case for me. For me, the most effective treatment was Triamcinolone injections. My dermatologist dilutes it a bit, and injects the bald spots. Within 6 weeks, baby hairs start to sprout. IMO, it's works. The side effect that I had was bone thinning - the skull caves in where the steroid was injected. This can be resolved by reducing the concentration of the injection. The bone grows back once treatment ends.

Feel free to shoot me more questions - I have 15+ years of experience with alopecia.

[RadiantNeedle]

Ok, wow... Bone degrading.. Skull caving in... That's scaring the poop out of me o.o

[stinamoo]

My sister has alopecia areata, which after several years developed slowly into alopecia totalis (all her eyelashes, eyebrows etc fell out in addition to all her scalp hair). She recently had a course of oral steroids which caused baby-fluff all over her scalp and her eyebrows and eyelashes grew back in.

She only stopped the course of steroids a month or so ago so it's too soon to say whether the results will last, but she's happy with them for now. She didn't have any adverse reactions.

Any steroids can thin the skin/area they are applied to, even the low-steroid cream often used for eczema.