A research team from Yale University announced the success of helping a bald man grow his hair back. Doctors at the university used a novel treatment and he was able to gain back a full head of hair. The man was suffering from alopecia universalis, a disease that left him completely bald at the age of 25. This case has been the first reported of a successful targeted treatment for the rare, highly visible disease.

According to the New York Daily News, the man was suffering from an autoimmune disorder, which is the cause of his hair loss. He also suffers from plaque psoriasis, a condition that causes red, scaly patches on the skin. The medical team was able to successfully treat the alopecia with tofacitinib citrate, an FDA-approved rheumatoid arthritis drug.

Dr. Brett A. King, assistant professor of dermatology at Yale believed that the arthritis drug might be able to address both of the man’s conditions, alopecia and psoriasis, simultaneously. The drug had been used successfully for treating psoriasis in humans. It had also reversed alopecia, a less extreme form of alopecia than the man suffers from, in mice.

After two months on tofacitinib, the patient’s psoriasis showed some improvement and the man had grown scalp and facial hair. This was the first hair he had grown in that part of his body in seven years. After three more months of therapy at a slightly higher dose, the patient had completely regrown scalp hair and also had clearly visible eyebrows, eyelashes, facial hair, armpit, and other hair.