Hair Loss/Bald Patch/Alopecia Areata in Children

[jacp]

My 9 year old girl has a bald patch a bit bigger than a 50p piece on the side of her scalp. Completely smooth. Not sure if she's noticed it and I don't want to draw attention to it to make her stressed as it might make it worse. Haven't taken her to GP as i don't want to stress her if they can't treat it anyway. Having googled, it seems to be alopecia areata, for which there doesn't seem to be a good treatment. Has anyone had this experience? Should I just ignore it, and hope it goes, and deal with the consequences if it gets worse? Or take to GP and risk her being stressed for no reason - dilemma. Has anyone found an effective treatment? Thanks.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

My best friend had this when we were in our teens...it DID clear up. It was there for around a year, it got a bit larger and then gradually it grew back....fluffy at first.

I think you could visit the GP on your own about this...without her. You can easily explain and there might be some advice you won't find onlline.

I advise that you look at her lifestyle and whether there's any stress...you could consider her doing children's yoga class...it's very good for stress. Is her diet good?

[jacp]

Thanks. Will have a quiet word with gp. She also wets every night, been thru all tests and scans no physical prob. Maybe she is stressed and these r symptons.

[Rotkehlchen]

My dd (10) had this last year. I did take her to the GP and she sent her for a blood test to check for any deficiencies to be on the safe side. Nothing was detected so they said it must be alopecia areata. It has grown back now, but as Neo says it took about a year.

[MrsRichards]

My 10 yo ds has been diagnosed with this today. So good to hear that others have had good experiences of it clearing up. We were given worst case scenario which was rather upsetting