What is Alopecia Areata?
Amongst all hair disorders, none arouse as much interest as alopecia areata. The reason for this is the uniqueness with which the disease presents itself:
Alopecia can affect people of any age - from infancy right up to the 80s
It can affect any part of the body
This condition can progress very rapidly leading to complete loss of scalp hair in a span as short as 15 days or can limit itself to one small persistent patch throughout a person's life
It has phases of remissions and relapses even whilst the patient is on medication, and in few rare cases it's known to relapse even 20 years after the first episode
Basically, alopecia areata is a condition in which there is patchy loss of hair from the scalp. The condition can affect any part of the body as mentioned before but it is most commonly seen on the scalp. In certain cases it can extend to eyebrows, eyelashes, facial hair (beard, moustache) and can give rise to bald spots anywhere on the body.
Here are some of the features that are characteristic of alopecia areata:
Hair falls out in small patches leaving bald spots about the size of a small coin
There may be single or multiple such patches
The bald spots may remain static or may spread to involve larger areas of the scalp
In certain cases, hair loss is more extensive
Uncommonly, it may progress to total loss of hair on the head (alopecia areata totalis) or complete loss of hair all over the body (alopecia areata universalis)