Information from Libby Edwards, MD - Mid-Charlotte Dermatology & Research

ALOPECIA

You have a kind of hair loss called alopecia areata. This occurs because your immune system, that part of your body that normally fights off infections, has become overactive and is fighting off your hair. No one knows why this happens, but it is not an infection so you lid not catch it from anyone, and you cannot pass it on to others. Usually, alopecia areata only causes one or a few bald patches that come and go. Eventually, the bald patches usually go away permanently. Occasionally, patches can be large, and rarely the whole scalp can lose hair. When this happens, regrowth of the hair is unlikely. The only effective treatment is cortisone, and improvement is temporary. Some patients improve with cortisone creams (such as triaminolone), but often cortisone must be injected into the skin of the scalp. Local cortisone injections must be repeated about every 4 to 6 weeks, or the hair will fall out again. Although cortisone taken by mouth is possible, the side effects are usually too dangerous for this treatment to be practical. There is no other therapy that is useful. Special shampoos and diets are not beneficial. Permanents, straighteners, and coloring can damage fragile hair that remains or regrows, so that the hair loss may be more obvious.