The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved Olumiant, an oral drug to treat adult patients suffering from severe Alopecia Areata, which is an autoimmune disorder that often results in patchy baldness. 

“Access to safe and effective treatment options is crucial for the significant number of Americans affected by severe alopecia,” said FDA official Kendall Marcus in a statement on Monday. 

“Today’s approval will help fulfill a significant unmet need for patients with severe alopecia areata.”

Alopecia areata can make hair fall out of the scalp in patches. It also affects other body parts, like eyebrows and nose hair.

Brett King, a hair loss expert at Yale Medicine, told The Associated Press in March that the disorder causes emotional distress.

“Imagine if you woke up today missing half of an eyebrow,” he said. “That unpredictability is one of the things that’s so mentally treacherous and awful because you have no control of it … it’s a disease that strips people of their identity.”

Also Read: Jada Pinkett Smith in tears for alopecia victim who died by suicide over bullying

It affects over 300,000 people in the United States every year and is the second biggest cause of hair loss, after male or female pattern balding.

Also Read: What is Aphasia, disorder that actor Bruce Willis is suffering from?

Several celebrities like Hollywood actor Jada Pinkett Smith and Rep.Ayanna Pressley have spoken about having the disorder.

“It was terrifying when it first started. I was in the shower one day and had just handfuls of hair in my hands and I was just like, ‘Oh, my God, am I going bald?” she recalled during a May 2018 episode of her Facebook Watch series, Red Table Talk. “It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking with fear.”