Alopecia areata is a condition that results in hair loss when the immune system destroys hair follicles. The parts of the skin that produce hair are called hair follicles. Although alopecia areata may affect any body region, the head and face are most often affected. Hair typically sheds in quarter-sized, spherical patches, although the amount of hair loss is higher in certain circumstances. The majority of patients have no additional symptoms and are in good health.
Each person’s case of alopecia areata develops differently. Some people have hair loss on and off throughout their lifetimes, while others only experience it once. Additionally, recovery is uncertain; some people’s hair will completely regenerate while others won’t.
Alopecia’s areata cannot be cured; however, some therapies may hasten new hair growth. Resources are available as well to assist individuals in coping with hair loss.
Who is Prone to Alopecia Areata?
Alopecia areata may affect anybody. It affects all racial and ethnic groups equally and affects men and women equally. Although it may start at any age, most individuals experience it in their twenties, thirties, or teenagers. It tends to be more severe and progressive in children under ten.
Although many individuals don’t have a family history of the illness, your risk may increase if you have a close relative who has it. Researchers have connected numerous genes to the disease, indicating that genetics may be involved in alopecia areata. Many of the genes they have discovered are crucial for the immune system’s proper operation.
Alopecia areata is more common in people with certain autoimmune disorders, such as psoriasis, thyroid disease, or vitiligo, and those with allergy diseases like hay fever.
People at risk for developing alopecia areata may get it due to mental stress or disease, although this is not always true.
Alopecia Areata Types
Alopecia areata comes in three primary varieties:
Alopecia areata in patches. This form of hair loss, the most prevalent, causes one or more patches of baldness the size of coins to appear on the scalp or in other areas of the body.
Complete alopecia. This condition causes people to lose their scalp hair or virtually all of it.
Universal alopecia. This uncommon form is characterize by a whole or almost total loss of hair on the scalp, face, and other body parts.
Alopecia Areata Signs and Symptoms
Although nails might sometimes alter, hair is the central aspect of alopecia areata to be affect. Most of those with the condition are healthy and show no additional symptoms.
Hair Transitions
When alopecia areata first manifests, round or oval patches of hair on the scalp suddenly fall out. However, any portion of the body, including the beard area in males, the eyebrows, and the eyelashes, may also be affect. Short, broken hairs or “exclamation point” hairs with a base thinner than a tip are often seen along the boundaries of the patch. On the exposed portions, there usually is no indication of a rash, redness, or scarring—some claim to experience tingling, burning, or itching on certain skin spots just before hair loss.
What will happen next is difficult to foresee when a bare area forms. The options consist of:
Within a few months, the hair comes back. At first, it could seem white or grey, but it might take on its original hue over time.
Further bare spots appear. While new bare patches are developing, the original patch of hair might sometimes regenerate.
Larger patches are create when smaller ones connect. Alopecia totalis, an uncommon condition, is the ultimate hair loss from the whole scalp.
Alopecia universalis, a form of the condition, progresses to total body hair baldness. This is unusual.
The hair usually returns, although there might be more hair loss episodes.
People with:
- It is likely to have more hair regenerate totally on its own
- A less severe loss of hair.
- Later onset age.
- No adjustments to the nails.
- No history of the illness in the family.
Nail Alterations
Some persons have ridges and pits in their nails, particularly those with more significant hair loss.
Alopecia Areata Causes
Inflammation results from the immune system wrongly attacking hair follicles in alopecia areata. While the exact source of the immunological assault on hair follicles is unknown, researchers think hereditary and environmental (non-genetic) variables are involve.