ALOPECIA TOTALIS IS A RARE SKIN CONDITION WITH NO CURE BUT A FEW GOOD SOLUTIONS.
The cause of alopecia totalis is not completely understood, but it is actually a dermatological condition, a skin disease rather than a hair loss disease. It is characterized by a total or near-total loss of hair on the head: scalp, facial hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. Children are most often affected, but it occurs in adults as well.
What causes it? No one knows for sure, but it seems to occur with frequency within families, suggesting a genetic factor. For some, it coincides with stressful events, but for others, it arises from seemingly no good reason. There are no other symptoms associated with alopecia totalis. It sometimes reverses itself spontaneously, when hair growth resumes without treatment.
Functionally, it is an autoimmune response in that the hair shafts are rejected by the individual’s immune system. On a more limited level, this same loss occurs in patches (known as “alopecia areata”), or as a complete loss of all hair all over the entire body (“alopecia universalis”).
There are no medications or cures for the condition. Hair replacement systems – or embracing the look in all its beauty – are two ways in which persons with alopecia totalis live with the condition. Emotionally, alopecia totalis can be devastating. Individuals with the condition might seek counseling or join support groups.
Just as the cause of the condition is not fully understood, it is sometimes a misdiagnosis of other disease conditions. Individuals with total hair loss.
