Alopecia Areata Info

The AA (not alcoholic anon, but alopecia areata) list is known as AAF or  Alopecia Areata Foundation and has more websites devoted to it than their are to TTM although the causes are still pretty much unknown.

AA (i use this in reference to totalis and unversalis as well) is when the immunesystem rejects the hair thinking its a foreign invader like a germ. Localized immunotherapy (or injections of immune supressors in specifically 'bad' locations in the scalp, eyebrows, etc.) can give the hair a chance to grow and often maintain growth. AA and other forms of alopecia are spontanous. Sometimes it happens once and enver again. I knew a guy who had it for three years and it still hasn't gone aweay--sometimes it doesn't
go away. Many relapse later on in life. I have a constantly relapsing case. (I have decent hair growth for like a month and then bad and then on and on...) It's hereditary and can be brought on by stress.

Trichotillomania is a neurological disorder (impulsive/compulsive dirsoder) while AA is an automimmune disease. Their is a distinct difference. Neither should be confused with male/female pattern baldness or
the results of waxing (which has a name beginning with alopecia, although alopecia means 'bald' so it is simply a latin name and has nothing to do with the disease.)

Quick Explanation

Alopecia Areata-Most common. Smooth fairly circular patches usually found on scalp and rarely in pubic hair, arm hair, leg hair, etc. Patches are usually a few inches large or smaller and can be compared to the DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT IF YOUR HAIR LOOKS LIKE THIS label on Rogaine-brand minoxodil products.

Alopecia Totalis-the total loss of scalp hair loss. Can mean extremely thin hair or entire baldness of scalp.

Alopecia Universalis-Total loss of all hair including scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, pubic, upper lip, underarm, beard, arm, leg, etc, etc, etc hair. I don't think it's usually found in patches. Mostly you lose everything resembling the guy from Powder or a chemopatient.


Alopecia patients have a hard time because of the spontanous uncontrollable cycle of loss and growth or sometimes just loss. It's not easy to wake up with clumps of hair on your pillow at 8 or 9 or any age especially when you didn't pull it.

Their is no cure for AA right now, but cortisone injections (usually scalp or eyebrow) and rogaine are perscribed to patients.

Remember, check with your derm first before trying to get on a treatment for Alopecia. (Specifically Rogaine because that's the only over the counter one.)

Sarah

At the risk of being redundant, I would like to again advance my crackpot psuedo-scientific wildly unfounded speculation that alopecia areata and some forms of trichotillomania are related.

When an immune response occurs and no known pathogen can be isolated, doctors pronounce these conditions as auto-immune disorders. The ability to indentify and isolate pathogens is far from a perfect science and many conditions previously thought of as being auto-immune in nature actually turned out be true infections.

Alopecia areata usually occurs in contiguous areas on the scalp. I have yet to have anyone explain to me how the DNA in one group of hairs spontaneously alters its in order to invoke an immune response and then equally explained spontaneously returns to its original configuration. The pattern of the
effected areas clearly suggests a vector. Tinea capitis, a known fungal infection of the scalp, presents a similar pattern.

I do not question there is an immune response and that it is the body's immune system that destroys the hair. I question whether or not there may be a hidden pathogen which is triggering the immune response. Steroids will suppress any immune response, even those triggered by pathogens. If the
body's immune system goes haywire and starts producing antibodies that attack hair, why don't these antibodies attack all the hair and not just selected contigious areas?

I would like to submit an idea for consideration and comment, particularly of John who has researched the medical literature. Could it be possible that the hot spots seen in some cases of ttm are actually triggered by low-level immune responses similar in nature but less intense than those seen in alopecia
areata? Is it possible these immune responses are caused by something such as the yeast, mite, or digestive byproduct thereof?

I do not have any contacts in the AA support community nor do I know if it is similar in nature to our own support group in nature and function. However, I  would be very interested in exploring whether or not there are similar characteristics, particularly if some cases might respond to John's diet or would reveal similar mapping with the bentonite masque.

Mike