Alopecia is baldness or the loss of hair.
The commonest form is ordinary, hereditary
male-pattern baldness, but both women and
men can suffer from hair loss for other reasons.
Symptoms
The form that alopecia
takes will depend on the cause. Male-pattern
baldness is inherited and may cause a total
loss of hair from the scalp. Alopecia areata
can cause a total loss of all body hair
including the eyebrows and eyelashes, but
we do not know the cause and there is no
known treatment.
Causes
- Baldness has many
possible causes. These include: Old age
and inherited traits
- Disease (either
directly from an infection or because
of fever)
- Chemotherapy or
radiation treatment for cancer (but not
in every case)
- Male sex hormones
in women
- An underactive
thyroid gland (myxoedema)
- Pregnancy
- Some medical drugs
Hair loss may occur some weeks after a severe
feverish illness such as scarlet fever.
Scarring alopecia may follow burns, skin
wasting, ulceration, fungus infection or
skin tumours.
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Alopecia
