What is Alopecia?

Alopecia is a skin disease that results in hair loss on the whole body. It is also known as Alopecia Universalis and can even affect a person's nails. With this disease, the patient is healthy, but for some reason the white blood cells begin attacking the hair follicles as if they were a foreign substance in the body and eventually kill them all, leaving the patient completely bald. Although this is not a life threatening disease, it is life altering in the fact that it causes a lot of emotional and social problems for the person with the disease.

How is androgenic alopecia different from alopecia areata?

Androgenic alopecia is the mane given to male and female pattern baldness. With this condition the hair loss occurs gradually over several years. It is not sudden, as in the case of areata. People that go bald gradually usually have a family history of baldness and the pattern is different for men and women.

• Women with alopecia tend to start losing their hair in spots and the hair becomes very thin.
• Men start to lose their hair at the temples, which then spreads to the hair on the crown of the head. Men usually keep the hair on the back and the sides of the head.

Alopecia reatments that are used

There is no cure for the universalis form of alopecia. People who suffer from this disease sometimes wear a head covering or a wig to hide their baldness. In mild cases of the disease there are treatments available, such as cortisone injections into the balding areas, topical minoxidil and anthralin cream or ointment. Sometimes the white blood cells stop their attack on the follicles and the treatments have to be continued until this happens.

For male and female pattern baldness, the topical solution Rogaine (minoxidil) has been proven effective, as has Propecia, a pill that is taken orally. Others have preferred the surgical techniques of hair transplants.