What is Alopecia ?

What is Alopecia Areata?

The word alopecia comes from Ancient Greek and roughly translates as "fox disease," on account of foxes changing their fur twice a year. The word areata means "occurring in patches or circumscribed areas."

Alopecia areata is "a common condition of undetermined etiology characterized by circumscribed, non scarring, usually asymmetric areas of baldness on the scalp, eyebrows, and bearded portion of the face.

In the majority of cases, hair falls out in small patches around the size of a quarter. For most people, the hair loss is nothing more than a few patches, though in some cases it can be more extreme. Sometimes it can lead to the complete loss of hair on the scalp (alopecia totalis) or in extreme cases the entire body (alopecia universalis).

Alopecia Cauese

Alopecia areata is considered to be an autoimmune disease, where the immune system mistakenly targets the body instead of harmful foreign invaders such as bacteria. In the case of alopecia areata, the immune system attacks the hair follicles which lead to hair loss.

There may be one or multiple factors leading to hair loss :-

• Genetic tendency
• Nutritional deficiency (Iron, Protein, zinc, etc.)
• Local factors (Skin diseases)
• Hormonal factors (Hyper& hypothyroidism, menopause)
• Systemic disease (Liver disease, kidney failure)
• After acute ailments (Viral infection, Typhoid)
• Stress factors (depression)
• Drugs (B-blockers for hypertension, chemotherapy, anticholesterol drugs, etc.)
• Lack of personal hygiene like unclean conditions of scalp