Hey there!
Welcome to Life Noggin.
Hair loss can be a sensitive topic for a lot of people.
While certain life events and old age can lead to hair loss, sometimes it can be caused
by a health condition.
One such condition is alopecia areata.
Alopecia areata is a condition that can cause your hair to fall out more than normal.
The average person can pretty easily lose up to around 100 pieces of hair a day from
their scalp, with most of that growing back.
Alopecia areata is when that hair loss gets more significant and you have trouble getting
that hair to grow back.
The amount of hair that falls out varies from person to person, but it can be anything from
small, rather unnoticeable patches, to greater amounts of hair loss as the patches increase
in size and connect with each other.
We often think of this as hair loss relating to what’s on top of your head, but this
condition can also include hair loss in places like your eyebrows and eyelashes, as well
as your face and other parts of your body.
According to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, this condition is fairly common,
affecting as many as 6.8 million Americans with a lifetime risk of 2.1%.
While there is no cure, symptoms can come and go.
It might develop slowly, then go away for a few years before coming back.
Alopecia areata can lead to alopecia totalis, where you lose all of the hair on your scalp,
or alopecia universalis, where you have total hair loss.
Generally, when and if your hair ever does grow back, it might fall out again later on.
It often first shows up with children, but can begin in any age group.
So why does any of this happen?
To answer that, we gotta take a look at your immune system.
Alopecia areata usually develops as a result of your immune system attacking your hair
follicles, which ultimately results in hair loss.
In this way, alopecia areata is considered an autoimmune disorder.
That puts it in a group of other conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes,
and Graves’ disease.
Autoimmune disorders are basically when your own body ends up attacking itself, leading
to an often chronic condition where symptom management is the main treatment.
When it comes to alopecia areata specifically, treatment can include things like topical
agents that you rub into the affected area and steroid injections to help stimulate hair
growth.
Certain types of light therapy may also be an option.
A study that came out in 2015 reported that excimer lamps could be an effective treatment
for alopecia areata, especially in people with severe cases.
In this study, they found that patients who received treatment with a 308-nm excimer lamp
began to see improvements after 2 months.
Only mild side effects were noted, suggesting that the excimer lamp could be a safe alternative
treatment for people with alopecia areata.
Alopecia areata isn’t the only thing that can cause hair loss though.
Medical conditions like thyroid diseases or scalp infections can do it too.
Hormonal changes can lead to temporary hair loss, like with pregnancy or menopause.
If you’re taking medications to help treat conditions like cancer, depression, or high
blood pressure, you might also experience hair loss as well.
So do you have any other questions about hair that you want us to answer?
Are you somebody that suffers from hair loss? if you're comfortable with sharing your story,
let me know it in the comment section below!
wanna watch even more life noggin?
We'll there is this video we have on a rare syndrome that keeps your skin peeling forever.
Check out this video.
Rather than being just a single thing, peeling skin syndrome is a more general term for a
group of rare inherited skin disorders that are known for spontaneous and continual peeling
of the skin
as always, my name is Blocko, this has been life noggin, don't forget to keep on thinking!