Alopecia areata (AA) is a common disease that results in nonscarring
hair loss. Recently,
tofacitinib (
TOFA) has been a novel promising
therapy for AA. The aim of this study is to determine the efficacy of oral
TOFA treatment for
alopecia areata (AA), and
alopecia universalis (AU). Data of nine patients treated with oral
TOFA with either AA or AU were retrospectively evaluated. Treatment outcome, disease severity, and therapeutic response were evaluated by Severity of
Alopecia Tool (
SALT) scores along with regular photographic surveillance done at third and sixth months. Treatment response was established on four categories: complete response (90% change in latest
SALT score), intermediate response (51-90% change), moderate response (6-50% change), and nonresponse (<5% change). Nine patients aged 13-33 years were reviewed. Four patients (44.4%) did not respond to oral
TOFA therapy, three patients (33.3%) were moderate responders, 1 (11.1%) was intermediate responder, and 1 (11.1%) was complete responder at the end of 6 months. The clinical response rate (those who achieved ≥5-100% change in
SALT score) was 41.4% for all patients. Most of the patients who responded to
TOFA had AA instead of AU. Adverse effects were mild. The clinical response rate of
TOFA seems reasonable and
TOFA was well-tolerated in this cohort. However, to truly evaluate efficacy, future studies are needed to assess the efficacy, adverse effects, and durability of treatment with
TOFA in randomized controlled trials.