Female pattern baldness

[lovely1]

I think the medical term is called alopecia. I have a friend who's sister had hair loss problems when she was a teenager. She ended up having to wear a wig and never lived that down. She doesn't have the problems anymore. The doctors say it was just stress. Do you think she had this disease (alopecia)? Can it be cured with drugs? What causes it?

[Toni]

Originally Posted by lovely1

I think the medical term is called alopecia. I have a friend who's sister had hair loss problems when she was a teenager. She ended up having to wear a wig and never lived that down. She doesn't have the problems anymore. The doctors say it was just stress. Do you think she had this disease (alopecia)? Can it be cured with drugs? What causes it?

Hi lovely1 and welcome, welcome to our fourm!

Yes, you are correct. Alopecia is the official Latin term for baldness. It is caused by normal aging, hormones changing and heredity.

Baldness that is occuing in patches is referred to "Alopecia Areata". This is not normal as you can guess and it is considered a disease. This results from a person's own immune system attacking the follicles with white blood cells causing the hair growth to be stumped. It starts off looking like skin inflammation and usually begins during childhood. Sometimes it causes all over scalp hair loss and can even mean body hair loss. A physician needs to be sought by each individual to determine what treatment options may be available. There are a couple of drugs out there for this, one of which women cannot even touch, let alone take because of the real danger of birth defects.

[braids4ever]

when you say looks like skin inflammation can i get some more detailed? Do you mean pain, redness and swelling?

Can it only happen in childhood or teenage years? What about menopause?

[sheen]

I work with a woman that may have this. Her hair is real thin and you can see right down to her scalp. It's sad to know that women actually experience this just like men.

[Toni]

Originally Posted by braids4ever

when you say looks like skin inflammation can i get some more detailed? Do you mean pain, redness and swelling?


Yes, I'm afraid so. This is the beginning of the disease known as Alopecia Areata that needs medical attention.



Can it only happen in childhood or teenage years? What about menopause?

Yes, unfortunately menopause can bring this about due to the biochemical changes to your body. It is one of the greatest downfalls of menopause. Other things like chemotherapy can also bring about patches of baldness.

Lack of biotin in our diets can cause thinning and hair loss. Finding a list of foods that are rich in biotin would be beneficial to your hair health such as certain nuts and rice. And as I mentioned before, scalp stimulation through hair brushing or massage gets the blood going again to those hair follicles.

There are also a wide range of home remedies for hair. I would search the internet for more information.

[Jules]

A friend of mine had alopecia due to stress. It was really very sad. She had this gorgeous head of curly hair. A lot of people thought that she was sick. Eventually her life straightened out and her hair grew back fine.