Alopecia Areata: What It Is and What to Do

Alopecia areata (hair loss in areas) is believed to cause inflammation of the hair follicles which leads to hair loss. It is thought to affect 1 or 2 people in 1,000.

This condition can develop within people of any age, but it seems to be particularly common in young people aged between 15 and 29. According to Bupa statistics, 6 out of 10 people with alopecia see it begin when they are under the age of 20.

Symptoms can include patchy hair loss which are most likely to be found on the scalp, but can affect the eyebrows, eyelashes or beard.

Exposed skin can be smooth and healthy looking but could sometimes be red or scaly. Also, nails may be pitted, split or have grooves running across them.

About 1 in 5 people with this condition also has a family member with alopecia which suggests that genes could be significant, although other factors are known to play their part. For example, those people with conditions which affect the immune system and particular skin conditions like eczema could be more at risk.

Alopecia areata often goes away on its own accord, and in 3 out of 10 people, it can grow back without treatment.

Many of those who suffer from alopecia may use wigs, hats or bandanas to cover the problem, but there are other treatments which can be used to encourage the hair to grow back. The most common treatments can involve steroid creams, ointments and lotions. Corticosteroid injections are also sometimes offered, although these can have side effects.
Alopecia areata is characterized by the appearance of a bald spot. Usually this bald spot comes and goes; that is, it appears on one area of the scalp at one time, and appears on a different scalp area at another. It is mainly considered to be an autoimmune disorder and no cure has been found for it.

Hair Loss: To Worry or Not to Worry

There are a number of reasons that can cause hair loss and it can be a very distressing condition. The good news is most hair loss is temporary and can be treated. The first step is always to identify the cause and then find the best solution.

Illness and surgery
About 3 or 4 months after an illness or major surgery, you may suddenly lose a large amount of hair. This hair loss is related to the stress of the illness and is only temporary.

Hormonal changes
Hormonal problems may cause hair loss. If your thyroid gland is overactive or underactive, your hair may fall out. This hair loss usually can be helped by a treatment for thyroid disease. Hair loss may occur if male or female hormones are out of balance. Correcting the hormone imbalance may stop your hair loss and this may happen naturally or with help from your doctor.

After pregnancy
Many women notice hair loss about 3 months after they’ve had a baby. This loss is also related to hormones. During pregnancy, high levels of certain hormones cause the body to keep hair that would normally fall out. When the hormones return to pre-pregnancy levels, that hair falls out and the normal cycle of growth begins again.

Medicines
Some medicines can cause hair loss. This type of hair loss improves when you stop taking the medicine.

Stress and hair fall
The condition of a person’s hair can tell you a lot about stress levels in their lives. So if you notice your hair is getting noticeably thinner, you might want to look at your stress levels.
Stress can be relieved by slowing down rather than speeding up. Slowing down can be achieved by talking to people about your worries, learning to relax, doing special exercises such as yoga and meditation, having a holiday or just taking it easy for a couple of days.

What Hair Loss Treatments Hold in the Future

Research on hair diseases and general hair biology was a relatively small even about 20 years ago, but that has been changing in recent years. Since balding and thinning hair does not represent the threat of a life-threatening illness or one that’s physically debilitating, it makes sense that it’s less researched than many other medical conditions. But hair loss can have an impact on the lives of those suffering from it, and female hair loss has been devastating for some women.

There are a few reasons we’re seeing more growth with the hair loss treatment industry—partially because we live in a free market economy that runs by supply and demand. There is obviously a strong demand for hair loss prevention products and anything that will help promote hair growth, so that has helped strengthened research. But the more important reason is because the growth cycle of hair—the shedding and regrowth—provides a way to use specific molecular biology techniques like gene therapy and cloning as a new growth cycle begins. As we learn more about a specific area in the body, we usually soon realize this new knowledge can be used in another area as well as everything is connected in some way.

What to Expect

Medications that prevent hair loss continue to improve. One of the main medications available now is finasteride. It helps decrease DHT in the blood which can cause baldness or thinning hair in people with inherited patterned baldness. But there is another medication, dutasteride, on the market that some hope will work even better for more people than finasteride because it’s able to block a higher percentage of DHT. Dutasteride is currently used in men with an enlarged prostate.

In the future, it’s likely we’ll have hair loss solutions that can conceal baldness and will be able to effectively block DHT from getting to the hair follicles at the same time. By directly targeting the cells that are the main cause of hair loss, we would be able to reduce the side effects from medications that are ingested and end up affecting the whole body instead of just the area that needs to be treated.

Other hopeful future treatments include cloning hair follicles, gene therapy, and stem cells. But unfortunately right now, these treatments are probably years away from commercial use.