Alopecia Areata Information

Alopecia areata is a form of hair loss from areas of the body, generally from the scalp. Because it causes bald spots on the head, especially in the first stages, it is sometimes also called as spot baldness. In 1-2% of cases, the condition can spread to the entire scalp or to the entire epidermis.

Types

Alopecia areata monolocularis describes baldness in only one particular spot, but alopecia may occur anywhere over the head. Alopecia areata multilocularis refers to several areas of hair loss. In case the patient loses all the hair on his/her scalp, the disease is then called Alopecia areata totalis. In case all body hair, including pubic hair, is lost, then the diagnosis becomes Alopecia areata universalis. The disease may be limited only to the extent of the beard.

Causes

Alopecia areata is thought to be an autoimmune disease in which the body mistakenly treats its hair follicles as foreign tissue and suppresses hair growth. It is not contagious but it may be hereditary--there are a few recorded cases of babies being born with congenital alopecia areata. Stress has not yet been proven to be a crucial factor, although this is still disputed.

Diagnosis

Alopecia areata's first symptoms are small, soft, bald patches, which can take just about any shape but are most usually round. Initial presentation most usually occurs in the late teenage years but can happen with people of all ages. It most often affects the scalp, but it may occur on any hair-bearing part of the body. There may be various skin areas with hair loss and regrowth in the same body at the same time. It may also go into remission for a time, or permanently. The longer the hair loss persists, the smaller would be the chance that it will grow back. Fingernails may be affected, especially in severe cases where various nail changes may become prominent, the most common of which would be pitting of the fingernails.

One diagnostic technique applied by medical professionals is to gently tug at a handful of hair along the edge of a patch with less strength than it would require for pulling out healthy hair. In healthy hair, no hair should fall out or ripped hair should be distributed very evenly across the tugged portion of the scalp. In the case of Alopecia the hair will tend to pull out easier along the edge of the patch where the follicles are already being attacked by the body's immune system than away from the patch where they are still very healthy.

Treatment

If the affected region is a bit small, it is reasonable to observe the progression of the illness as the problem often spontaneously regresses and the hair grows back, but in cases where there is severe hair loss, there has been limited success treating alopecia areata with corticosteroids or other immune modulators or phototherapy

In alopecia areata the affected hair follicles are mistakenly attacked by a person's own immune system resulting in the arrest of the hair growth stage. Alopecia areata generally starts with one or more small, round, smooth bald patches on the scalp and can progress to total scalp hair loss.

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