What is Alopecia? Alopecia Awareness Month

What is Alopecia?

We at Angel’s Eyes of Beauty know that hair loss of any kind can be difficult. For most women and men, their hair represents their youth and energy. When it starts falling out, it can be a scary time. You may be afraid that you are going bald, or have some kind of medical problem.

September is Alopecia awareness month, so we figured it would be a good time to discuss this difficult problem that affects about 2% of the population.

Hair grows out of something called a follicle on your head. It’s a tube that the hair comes out of and on average a person has about 100,000 hair follicles on their head. You can’t grow or open any more, you’ve got what you’re born with.

Alopecia is latin for loss of hair or baldness. It is the second most common form of hairloss following male pattern baldness. It is an auto-immune disease—which is a fancy way of saying that your body’s own immune system attacks your own cells by mistake. With alopecia areata, the hair follicles are the ones that are attacked.

The condition does not typically result in total baldness, but if it does the condition is referred to as alopecia areata totalis, or universalis if you lost all of the hair on your entire body.

What Are The Symptoms of Alopecia?

With alopecia, hair often does grow back in many people (and sometimes falls out again). Still, it’s good to know that you’re more likely to keep your hair than not.

People who have alopecia will notice it due to the sudden loss of hair. This hair loss tends to fall out in clumbs that have a circular shape like a quarter. The amount of hair loss varies individually, some people only lose a bit of hair in a few spots and some people have many spots—or total baldness.

What to Do about Alopecia?

If your hair is falling out due to alopecia, there isn’t much you can do naturally. Some medications like rogaine can be used, but the effectiveness has mixed claims. That’s why here at Angel’s Eyes of Beauty, we specialize in hair loss consultations to figure out the best solution for you. We know it can be a difficult and sensitive topic, and so we always treat you with the most respect to what you’re comfortable with.

We have many different methods of treating hair loss such as oxygen treatment, scalp exfoliation, and many more! While these routines may not directly treat alopecia—which is an auto-immune issue, they can most certainly give you much more volume and healthiness to your existing hair which will help your overall hair look fuller and vital.

Angel’s Eyes of Beauty very own Angela Williams ia certified specialist in Trichology—a practice focused on hairloss and scalp health. If anyone can get your hair and your scalp in order, it’s Angela!

Contact us here or give us a call at 561-704-0361 to book an appointment today and be on your way to a healthier head of hair!