Alopecia Areata: Insights into Causes and Solutions

In very simple words or layman’s language – ‘It is the occurrence of hair loss in small patchy areas.’

There are discrete patches from which hair starts shedding in this condition. It is thought to be an autoimmune disorder. Autoimmune is a condition in which the body works contrarily to what it is supposed to work.

Most of the time it is better to understand how the alopecia areata works or what is the mechanism behind it. In Alopecia Areata, the body starts to think that the hair follicles are not a part of the scalp resulting in the shedding of this hair. It starts to ensure that the concerned hair follicles are drawn out from the scalp resulting in patchiness in various areas.

For most of the alopecia areata patients, hair therapies do wonders. But for one to two percent of patients, alopecia areata is so extreme that it is not treatable. In this condition, Alopecia Areata turns into Alopecia Totalis which means hair loss from the complete scalp. In a worse situation, this turns into Alopecia Universalis; which means that the hair does not only disappear from the scalp but also from eyebrow, moustache, and beard. Perceived to be usually chronic and difficult to treat, 99% of patients of these alopecia patches are limited and they respond well to the treatment.

Alopecia Areata can be controlled when the patches are small. At HairMD, we have treatment modalities to treat alopecia areata with the help of our own invented & indigenous methods. The treatment is based on individual cases completely. If we don’t deem steroids to be fit in some patients, then we can use intralesional steroids in such cases.