Alopecia areata

[Tissy]

A few weeks ago I posted that my 21 month dd had a bald patch on the back of her head. Since then another has appeared on the top of her head, and working in a hospital , I was able to get her to see a dermatologist quite quickly. She has alopecia areata, which is a condition characterised by the loss of clumps of hair. I know it can be limited, as it is at the moment, or can progress to total loss . Does anyone else have any experience of this condition?

Oh, I am sorry. That must be upsetting. I can't help through personal experience, but there is information on www.alopeciaareata.com, and there is a support group which you can contact via www.hairlineinternational.co.uk - though the support group itself doesn't appear to be online.

Thanks, aloha

Thr hairline international site seems to be offline at present, but I'll keep checking it. Things aren't too bad at present, but I 've looked around and found plenty of awful photots of children and adults with no hair at all. My dd is small and shy (as I was as a child) and I just can't stop myself imagining how she will be teased at school if she loses all or even a large part of her hair

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I get this, Tissy.
I get it sporadically, haven't had an attack for about 5 or 6 years now. Typically a patch falls out, keeps getting bigger for a couple of weeks, then stays the same for a month or so, then new hairs start growing back from the outside of the patch inwards. I guess I am lucky in that mine is the non-spreading, grow back kind. Even tho' I have short hair, it has never beeb bad ebough so that the layers above don't cover it. I think by putting hair in a pony tail or similiar would hold the hair down in place over the patch.
I have tried Chinese Herbal medecine, which for me had no effect whatsoever...but topically applied steroid cream was really good in stopping patches increasing. Tho I realise you probably won't want to do that for a baby,).
It was really traumatic when I discovered the first patch, but now it is hardly an issue. I think that it is much rarer for it to be progressive, so I keep my fingers crossed for your DD, and for you.

Thanks, Blu. We've had some steroid cream prescribed, and the dermatologist says that the "skin thinning" that people worry about is not an issue, so I'm going to try it. I've got a very small patch of alopecia on one temple that came when I was about 12, and has never grown back in 30 years, so I guess dd inherited the tendency from me . I just hope that hers behaves a bit better, as it's a lot more noticeable. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the hair loss has stopped now, as the patch on the top of her head hasn't got any bigger for the last week. I originally thought that the patch on the back of her head was where her baby hair was rubbed off in her cot, and it wasn't until it didn't grow back after she started sleeping on her front, that I got a bit concerned. Now I look more closely, I should have noticed sooner, as part of the bald patch is in the nape of her neck, which wouldn't be in contact with her bed.

Thanks for "listening", it means a lot to me. I was having a bit of a winge to a friend the other night ( normally a very good friend), whose response was "at least you've got a baby", it turns out that a friend of hers has just had an ectopic pregnancy removed. That made me feel absolutely rotten and guilty for mentioning the problem. I know that I'm lucky to have her, but I can't help worrying about her.

Of course you are worrying! Sorry that your alopecia is the permanent kind...I think it is inherited as it's one of the group of auto-immune conditions, which tend to be inherited. It's good if they say that you can use streoid cream, as it has been effective for me. I do hope it works for your little girl.
Let us know how she gets on...

Tissy I'm so sorry to hear about this. I suffer from hair loss due to drugs I take and I know it's really traumatic, even worse if it's your little girl Maybe buy her some really super hats (I know it's not the same)

Tissy, TBH I think your friend was a bit insensitive. Suppose a kid had to have a leg amputated, it wouldn't be kind to say 'well at least they aren't having BOTH legs amputated'. Of course alopecia isn't as awful as that, but it would worry any normal mother so don't feel guilty about it. I very much hope her alopecia reverses itself or stays stable, like yours.