Definition:

Alopecia areata is a hair-loss condition which usually affects the scalp. It can, however, sometimes affect other areas of the body. Hair loss tends to be rather rapid and often involves one side of the head more than the other.

Alopecia areata affects both males and females. This type of hair loss is different than male-pattern baldness, an inherited condition

Causes:

Alopecia areata is not contagious.The condition is thought to be an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks its own hair follicles and suppresses or stops hair growth.An unknown environmental trigger such as emotional stress or a pathogen is thought to combine with hereditary factors to cause the condition. There are a few recorded cases of babies being born with congenital alopecia areata.

1.Heredity.

2.Alopecia areata often occurs in people whose family members have other autoimmune diseases, such as:

• Diabetes.
• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Thyroid disease.
• Systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus or SLE).
• Pernicious anemia.
• Addison’s disease.

3.People who have symptoms of alopecia areata do not usually have other autoimmune diseases. However, they may have:

• Thyroid disease.
• Atopic dermatitis.
• Nasal allergies.
• Asthma.

Types :It includes:-

• Alopecia Areata monolocularis : Baldness in only one spot.
• Alopecia Areata totalis: Complete hair lose on the scalp.
• Alopecia Areata universalis : The case in which all body hair, including pubic hair,are lost.
• Alopecia Areata barbae : The disease limited only to the beard
• Diffuse Alopecia Areata : A possible condition may cause a person with mixed grey and dark hairs losing all dark hairs at once due to psychological trauma .

Symptoms:

Here are the list of some of the common symptoms of Alopecia Areata :

• 1) Roundish patches of hair loss on the head, with smooth, hairless scalp in the affected areas.
• 2) Alopecia totalis involves the complete loss of all scalp hair, and alopecia universalis is characterized by the complete loss of all body hair.
• 3) Hairs that look like exclamation points are sometime seen at the edges of a bald patch.
• 4) The hair stops growing and then falls out from the roots.
• 5) Sudden loss of hair, then enlargement of the patches of hair loss.
• 6) New hair grows back, often initially coloured white or grey.

Diagnosis:

Usually diagnosis is based on clinical features.
On occasion, a scalp biopsy may be performed. Several blood tests may be done, because alopecia areata may occur with autoimmune conditions. Histological findings include peribulbar lymphocytic infiltrate (“swarm of bees”). Other helpful findings include pigment incontinence in the hair bulb and follicular stellae and a shift in the anagen-to-telogen ratio towards telogen, but biopsy is rarely done now a days.

Trichoscopy may aid differential diagnosis. In alopecia areata trichoscopy shows regularly distributed “yellow dots” (hyperkeratotic plugs), micro-eclamation mark hairs, and “black dots” (destroyed hairs in the hair follicle opening).

Suggestion about homoeopathy treatment:

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder affecting many individuals all over the world. The definition itself clarifies that the inner most of an individual is affected which is reflection in the form of hair loss from specific areas or every area for instance.

It is commonly encountered problem in day to day practice and it is observed that emotional trauma, stress, tensions, grief, anxieties, fear etc precipitates the existing illness. On the other hand alopecia areata itself is a source of emotional, social and psychological trauma to a patient. Thus it becomes the prime most thing to take the inner most of the patient into account for the constitutional as well as local prescription (if needed).

The aim of the treatment is to deal a patient in a holistic manner. Patient should be re-assurred as well as make aware of the situation he is suffering or going to suffer. Since relapses and remissions are very common in these cases, one must mention these points while counselling the patient for alopecia areata.

It is absolutely harmless, safe and non-toxic.