They may even experience additional hair loss. Alopecia areata can be emotionally challenging, especially when hair loss affects the whole scalp. People with the condition may feel isolated or become depressed. There are lifestyle changes you can make to help cope with the condition. New wig technologies, like the vacuum wig , which is made from silicon and a suction base, mean that people with alopecia can even swim with their wigs still in place.
Vacuum wigs, however, are typically more expensive. If hair loss affects the eyebrows, an eyebrow pencil , microblading, and eyebrow tattoos are a few options to consider. A doctor may be able to diagnose alopecia areata simply by looking at the extent of your hair loss and by examining a few hair samples under a microscope. Your doctor may also perform a scalp biopsy to rule out other conditions that cause hair loss, including fungal infections like tinea capitis.
During a scalp biopsy, your doctor will remove a small piece of skin on your scalp for analysis. The specific blood test performed depends on the particular disorder the doctor suspects.
However, a doctor will likely test for the presence of one or more abnormal antibodies. If these antibodies are found in your blood, it usually means that you have an autoimmune disorder. Foods with sugar, processed snacks, and alcohol may increase inflammation and irritation within the body.
This type of eating plan is designed to help reduce the autoimmune response in the body and decrease the chances of another hair loss episode or further hair loss. To do that, you eat foods that are known to ease the inflammation process. The foundational foods of this diet, also known as the autoimmune protocol, are fruits and vegetables like blueberries, nuts, seeds, broccoli, beets, and lean meats like wild-caught salmon.
Eating a balanced diet — one with whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean meat — is beneficial to your overall health for many reasons, not just for reducing inflammation.
This autoimmune disorder may be the result of several factors. Those include a family history, other autoimmune condition, and even other skin conditions. But not everyone with any of these factors will develop the hair condition. Healthy hair is a sign of beauty and good overall health. Here are the top 5 best vitamins to grow your hair, along with 3 other nutrients. Research on the effectiveness of saw palmetto in treating hair loss is limited, but promising.
The jojoba plant is a shrub native to the southwestern United States. It grows in the desert regions of Arizona, southern California, and Mexico. Healthline's picks for the best treatments for hair loss for men include Rogaine, Propecia, and more—how do they measure up? Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Medically reviewed by Alana Biggers, M. You might need to try a few treatments before finding one that works for you.
As alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease, several treatments involve the use of immunosuppressant drugs. Other forms of treatment involve stimulating hair growth.
This works best for those with less severe hair loss. Sometimes, hair loss might occur again, even when treatment was previously successful.
To make our selection of the best alopecia areata treatments, we consulted medical professionals and dermatologists for their recommendations.
As alopecia areata can be a serious autoimmune condition, which affects people in a myriad of ways, we wanted to explore a range of treatment options. Topical immunotherapy involves applying chemicals directly to the scalp in order to cause an allergic reaction. In turn, this stimulates the immune system and aids hair growth.
Chemicals used in this way might include diphencyprone, dinitrochlorobenzene, and squaric acid dibutyl ester. Minoxidil works to help the hair grow faster once the follicle is no longer under attack by the immune system and is capable of producing hair. Typically, topical minoxidil solutions come in strengths of 2 or 5 percent. It works by encouraging blood flow to hair follicles, stimulating dormant follicles, and aiding hair growth.
You can also get minoxidil sent to you monthly. Consider subscribing to minoxidil drops through services, like hims and Roman. Anthralin cream was originally used as a treatment for psoriasis, but was also found to be effective in the treatment of mild alopecia areata.
You apply anthralin once per day directly to the scalp in areas where you want to encourage hair growth. Minoxidil is listed as a pregnancy category C drug. It is not recommended for use in persons younger than 18 years. The primary side effect of topical minoxidil therapy is hypertrichosis excessive hair growth. The hair growth is most often noted above the eyebrows, in the malar region, and on the lateral cheeks.
It occasionally occurs above the upper lip and on the chin. Facial hypertrichosis has been reported to affect 3 to 5 percent of women treated with the 2 percent solution and more than 5 percent of women treated with the 5 percent solution. Hypertrichosis disappears after a year, even with continued use of minoxidil, and remits within one to six months if treatment is stopped.
Hair removal procedures are seldom necessary. Explanations for the occurrence of this side effect include local intravascular spread of minoxidil, inadvertent manual transfer of the drug to the face, and transmission of residual minoxidil from pillows. Commercial preparations contain minoxidil in a propylene glycol base. Allergic reactions to this base limit the usefulness of minoxidil therapy in some women.
A compounding pharmacist can prepare an alternative preparation in which minoxidil is suspended in a less sensitizing agent such as polyethylene glycol. In the past, exogenous estrogen was used to treat androgenetic alopecia. This treatment is used less often now, because minoxidil is more effective.
In fertile women with androgenetic alopecia who request oral contraception, it is important to select a pill containing the least androgenic progestin, such as norgestimate in Ortho-Cyclen, Ortho Tri-Cyclen , norethindrone in Ovcon 35 , desogestrel in Mircette , or ethynodiol diacetate in Demulen, Zovia.
This drug is a weak competitive inhibitor of androgen binding to androgen receptors. It also decreases the synthesis of testosterone. For these reasons, orally administered spironolactone has been tried in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia, although questions remain about its usefulness. Spironolactone can be beneficial in women who also have hirsuitism. This agent has been shown to be effective in men with alopecia. Moreover, finasteride has not been shown to be useful in postmenopausal women with androgenetic alopecia.
Topical tretinoin therapy as an adjunct to minoxidil has shown some promise. When hair loss is extensive, wigs may be worn. The use of minigrafts, rather than larger plugs, in hair transplantation provides a more cosmetically pleasing outcome. Hairstyling, teasing, coloring, permanents, and the use of hair spray are supported, rather than prohibited, as means of dealing with the cosmetic effects of androgenetic alopecia. Women may shampoo their hair as frequently as they wish without fear of worsening hair loss.
Alopecia areata is patchy hair loss of autoimmune origin 7 Figure 3. It usually presents as a single oval patch or multiple confluent patches of asymptomatic, well-circumscribed, non-scarring alopecia. Severity varies from a small bare patch to loss of hair on the entire scalp. These hairs are usually located at the periphery of the patch and extend several millimeters above the scalp. Alopecia areata occurs in 2 percent of the general population, with men and women equally affected.
The condition may be present in persons of any age, but is more common in children and young adults. The course of alopecia areata is one of spontaneous remissions and recurrences. Although patients with this disorder are usually otherwise healthy, some have comorbid conditions such as atopy, thyroid disease, or vitiligo. Alopecia areata has been strongly associated with certain human leukocyte antigen class II alleles.
Immunomodulating agents used in the treatment of alopecia areata include corticosteroids, 5 percent minoxidil, and anthralin cream Psoriatec. Topical immunotherapeutic agents e.
Dermatology consultation or referral may be necessary. All of these agents stimulate hair growth but do not prevent hair loss. Moreover, they probably do not influence the course of the disease. Unless alopecia areata is mild and easily masked, psychologic distress can be extreme.
Therefore, most physicians feel obliged to offer some form of treatment to affected patients. The most common treatment for alopecia areata is intralesional injection of a corticosteroid, preferably tri-amcinolone acetonide Kenalog. The recommended dose is up to 3 mL of a 5 mg per mL solution injected into the mid-dermis in multiple sites 1 cm apart. Hair growth usually becomes apparent in four weeks. Treatment can be repeated every four to six weeks.
Local skin atrophy, the predominant side effect, can be minimized by taking care to inject into the mid-dermis, rather than into the more superficial epidermis or the subdermal fat. Topical corticosteroid therapy can be used, although it is not as effective as intralesional injections.
Twice-daily application of 1 mL of an intermediate-potency corticosteroid solution or lotion to the entire scalp is routinely used to supplement corticosteroid injections. Although oral corticosteroid therapy is effective in the treatment of alopecia areata, it is seldom used because of potential adverse effects. Systemic treatment may be indicated in women with progressive alopecia areata.
For active, extensive, or rapidly spreading alopecia areata, the recommended treatment in adults weighing more than 60 kg lb is prednisone in a dosage of 40 mg per day for seven days; the corticosteroid is then tapered slowly by 5 mg every few days for six weeks.
Oral prednisone therapy can be used in combination with topical or injected corticosteroid therapy, as well as with topical minoxidil therapy. Topical administration of minoxidil, particularly the 5 percent solution, has been found to be somewhat effective in the treatment of alopecia areata. In one study, 8 this treatment produced acceptable results in 40 percent of patients who had lost 25 to 99 percent of their scalp hair.
The FDA has not labeled topically administered minoxidil for the treatment of alopecia areata. Treatment with anthralin, a nonspecific immunomodulator, is safe and effective, particularly in patients with widespread alopecia areata. Anthralin is available in 0. After each application period, the scalp is rinsed thoroughly with cool to lukewarm water and then cleaned with soap.
New hair growth becomes apparent in two to three months. Approximately 25 percent of patients have cosmetically acceptable results within six months. Selection of the optimal treatment approach depends on the extent of the hair loss Table 1. If less than 50 percent of the scalp is affected, intralesional corticosteroid injections alone or with topical corticosteroid therapy can be tried.
This medication tends to be less effective in adults than in children for hair regrowth. Anthralin: You apply this medication to the bald spots, let it sit on the skin for as long as your dermatologist says, and then wash it off.
It will cause some skin irritation. Our eyelashes protect our eyes. If you lose some or all your eyelashes, your dermatologist may include one or more of the following in your treatment plan to help protect your eyes:. Glasses: Wearing glasses helps to protect your eyes and make the hair loss less noticeable. The U. If alopecia areata causes you to lose your eyebrows, your dermatologist may recommend one of the following:.
Intralesional corticosteroids: A dermatologist can inject this medication to help the eyebrows start growing again. When alopecia areata causes widespread hair loss, complete loss of hair on the scalp alopecia totalis , or loss of all hair alopecia universalis , few people regrow their hair without help. Contact immunotherapy: Also called topical immunotherapy, the goal of this treatment is to change your immune system so that it stops attacking your hair follicles.
Dermatologists have:. Missed appointments can cause this treatment to stop working, causing the regrown hair to fall out. The treatment itself involves your dermatologist or nurse applying a chemical to your bald skin. The first time you receive this treatment, a small amount will be applied so that your body can start to develop a reaction to the chemical. Once you develop a reaction, the chemical will be applied weekly to your bald areas and left on for 48 hours.
During this time, you must keep the treated skin covered and should develop a rash, complete with redness, swelling, and itch. This rash lasts about 36 hours. Contact immunotherapy is given weekly until you completely regrow your hair or the treatment fails to regrow any hair within 6 months. To increase the effectiveness of this treatment, your dermatologist may prescribe another treatment that you use at home. Methotrexate: If you have extensive hair loss and other treatments have not worked, this medication may be an option.
In looking at studies of patients who have taken methotrexate to treat alopecia areata, dermatologists have found the following :. If this medication works for you, you should see some regrowth in about 3 months after you begin taking it. Your dermatologist may prescribe methotrexate alone or along with a medication called a corticosteroid. Taking methotrexate and a corticosteroid, such as prednisone, can improve results.
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