For certain people it may be normal to leave some hair on the pillow or on the comb, it usually happens so often that they have already become a landscape, the great concern appears when that hair loss becomes a small patch that threatens to make them bald. What some do not know is that this can be a very obvious symptom of being suffering from alopecia areata, a condition that is no longer unknown when a large part of the hair begins to fall, I invite you to read what it is and what can be done to treat it.
Alopecia areata or localized hair loss
Alopecia areata is a disease characterized by creating bald patches on the head, eyebrows, legs, beard and pubic hair. It is known that it is a kind of auntoimmune disease that affects the hair follicles, in this case the immune system begins to attack the healthy tissues of the body by mistake.
Commonly, people who suffer from alopecia areata have a family history of baldness, these same genes are also associated with certain diseases such as; celiac disease , type 1 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. Although this does not mean that other individuals are exempt from suffering from it, since this type of baldness can appear from an early age, after an illness, periods of stress and pregnancy, the first symptom will always be a small localized hair loss, but You may also experience another symptom such as mild itching in the area. After the first drop appears, it will only take a couple of months for the small patch to become a large circle.
Classification of this type of alopecia
Alopecia areata can be classified into;
Single plaque alopecia: in which a single patch is seen on the scalp.
Multiple plaque alopecia : when several bald patches appear that threaten to join.
Total baldness: when all the bald patches have already joined to become a total baldness.
Diffuse alopecia: Hair loss occurs diffuse and not so concentrated, sometimes its diagnosis is often confused with androgenic alopecia.
Finally we find the dark hair alopecia areata, which consists of the loss of hair that has its natural tone, leaving only the hairs that are gray. Before confirming the diagnosis of this condition, it is important to have ruled out the types of alopecia that are caused by diseases such as tinea capitis, trichotillomania, syphilis, loose anagen hair syndrome, and tick bite alopecia.
The condition does not represent a serious consequence for physical health , but on a psychological level, even more so when it tends to worsen, which is about 10% of cases, in other cases hair can be recovered again, but while this happens there are those who decide to help themselves with wigs.
The treatment for this type of alopecia is done according to the size of the lesion, in the smaller patches creams or shampoos with corticosteroids are used, for more extensive alopecia it is used, laser therapy, oral medications, shampoos, ointments, or hair implants. When this type of alopecia is related to celiac disease, it is advisable to follow a gluten-free diet in order to recover hair loss.
References
- Alopecia extracted on 07/05/2017
