Hair Therapy & Transplantation
Open Access

Signs and Symptoms of Alopecia Areata

Tasleem Arif^{* *}Correspondence: Tasleem Arif, Department of Dermatology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, Email:

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Description

Spot baldness, also known as alopecia areata, is a disorder where the body's hair is lost in some or all locations. It frequently causes a few coin-sized bald spots to appear on the scalp. In people at risk, psychological stress and sickness may contribute to the development of alopecia areata, but most often there is no clear cause. In general, people are in good health. Some people lose all of their body hair, or all of the hair on their heads. Hair loss may be transient or permanent. It differs from male pattern hair loss, which is more frequent. A breach in the immune privilege of the hair follicles is thought to be the cause of the autoimmune illness known as alopecia areata. A family history of the illness is one of the risk factors. If one of identical twins is afflicted, there is a 50% probability that the other will follow suit. The fundamental mechanism involves the body's inability to identify its own cells, with the hair follicle being subsequently destroyed by the immune system. The illness has no recognized cure. Some therapies are successful in accelerating hair regeneration, particularly topical 5% minoxidil lotions and triamcinolone injections. Sunscreens, hats that shield you from the sun and cold, and glasses, if your eyelashes are missing, are all advised.

In more than 50% of cases of localized "patchy" sickness with abrupt start, hair grows back within a year. Up to 80% of patients with one or two patches will have this recovery within a year. However, most patients will experience more than one episode throughout the course of a lifetime. Many patients have both hair loss and regrowth at the same time over a period of years. Less than 10% of people who lose all of their body hair ever grow it back. At any given time, about 0.15% of people are affected, and 2% of people are impacted overall. Onset often occurs in childhood. Males are impacted less frequently than females.

Signs and symptoms

Small bald patches are one of the alopecia areata's primary symptoms. The skin beneath seems normal on the surface and is unharmed. These patches can be many different shapes; however they typically have a circular or oval shape. Although it can affect any part of the body with hair, alopecia areata most frequently affects the scalp and beard. Hair regeneration and loss in several skin regions can happen simultaneously. Alternatively, the condition could go into temporary remission or develop permanently. Children often experience it. The balding area may tickle or feel slightly uncomfortable. The loss of hair typically occurs more on one side of the scalp than the other, and it typically happens over a short period of time. At most a few pieces of healthy hair should fall out when you pull on them, and the ripped hair shouldn't cover the entire yanked area of the scalp. Hair tends to fall out more readily in cases of alopecia areata around the edge of the patch where the immune system of the body is already attacking the hair follicles than away from the patch where they are still healthy.