Childhood Onset of Alopecia
Childhood alopecia is the abrupt appearance of round or oval patches of hair loss on the scalp. This can be quite devastating for children especially as they are already going through so many changes already. The patches on their scalp are completely slick bald or smooth without any signs of inflammation, scaling or broken hairs. In some cases, these patches appear literally overnight or over a period of just a few days.
It has been studied that the childhood onset of alopecia is caused by the body’s immune system that attacks the child’s hair follicles. During any given period of time, about 1 out of 1000 children suffers from alopecia areata. Out of this number, about a quarter of these kids also have ridging or pitting of the nails. Along with the proper treatment, a very large percentage of patients will gain all of their hair back within one year or sooner. It is important that children with this form of loss of hair be under the care of a dermatologist on a monthly basis.
There is certainly no guarantee that baldness will follow any children suffering from alopecia. Some children suffering from alopecia will feel a tingling sensation or pain in the affected area. While the scalp is the most commonly affected area, this type of extreme hair thinning can present itself on any region of hair on the body. Children with alopecia have no extra need to worry about male pattern baldness or female pattern baldness, respectively later in life as alopecia is not a debilitating condition that causes other problems. There is no known cure for alopecia areata and because there is very little understanding of the disease there are no FDA approved drugs or treatments specifically intended for alopecia areata. The good news is that there are several drugs being prescribed “off label” for the treatment of the condition. These drugs have been incorporated into treatment protocols that seem to be making some headway. These treatments continue to promote hair growth but none stop new bald patches from appearing or curing alopecia.
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