The patches of hair loss can grow larger. Sometimes, the patches grow larger and become one large bald spot. Other signs that you may have alopecia areata include: Gray and white hairs often remain where you have hair loss.
In most people, new hair eventually grows back in the affected areas, although this process can take months. Approximately 50 percent of people with mild alopecia areata recover within a year; however, most people will experience more than one episode during their lifetime.
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease. This means it's caused by the body's immune system attacking its own tissues. The immune system attacks the hair follicles. It causes hair to stop growing, and then break off and fall out.
After hair stops shedding, the hair will slowly grow back. This can take 6 to 8 months for all the hair to grow back. The whole cycle takes about 12 months. This type of hair loss is called telogen effluvium.
Make an appointment to see your doctor if: You suddenly develop a bald spot on your scalp. Your hair stylist tells you that your hair is thinning, or that you have small bald areas. You have lost your eyebrows or eyelashes, your beard is thinning, or you have noticeably less hair on your underarms or pubic area.
Hair loss (alopecia) can affect just your scalp or your entire body, and it can be temporary or permanent. It can be the result of heredity, hormonal changes, medical conditions or a normal part of aging.
If you're dealing with a temporary form of hair loss, your bald spot will likely grow back on its own. However, when bald spots or thinning are due to aging and genetics, that's not always the case. There are scientifically proven ingredients, such as minoxidil, that can help early hair loss.
One of the most widely used and proven treatments is minoxidil (Rogaine and various generic products). It's available in liquid, foam, or shampoo options. Stronger forms of minoxidil are also available by prescription. Minoxidil may cause side effects like skin irritation or unwanted hair growth on skin near the scalp.
It depends. “If a follicle has closed, disappeared, scarred, or not generated a new hair in years, then a new hair wouldn't be able to grow,” Fusco says. But if the follicle is still intact, yes, it is possible to regrow the hair—or to improve the health of the existing thinner hairs.
The hair loss is temporary, and should return to its pre-effluvium density, although this process is generally slow. It can take months (but generally less than 6) before the shedding stops, and then months to years for lost hair to grow back at the sluggish rate of ~½ inch per month.
Most bald spots are treatable, there are hair products for bald spots, either using medication, by making changes to your lifestyle or by undergoing surgery to transplant hair to the area that's affected by hair loss.
Sudden Loss of Patches of Hair
Bald spots may grow very slowly in one area or you may notice a patch or strip of hair loss that appears within just a day or two. In some cases, you may notice burning or stinging before sudden hair loss.
These patches may connect and then become more noticeable. The condition develops when your immune system attacks the hair follicles causing hair loss. This kind of hair loss is very common, affecting nearly 7 million people in the United States, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF).
Alopecia areata means localized hair loss, or “hair loss in areas.” Small, soft, hairless patches appear, usually round or oval in shape. The scalp and beard are most commonly affected, but it can occur in any part of the body that normally has hair. There may be tingling, or slight pain in affected areas.
How Long does Hair Loss Last? In half of patients with alopecia areata, individual episodes of hair loss last less than one year, and hair grows back without treatment. These patients may experience recurrent episodes of hair loss that spontaneously regrow or respond quickly to treatments.
Permanent Hair Loss:
When hair fall is triggered by predisposed genetic causes then the follicles are also affected and they miniaturize. This condition cannot be overcome without extensive hair treatment and this is termed as permanent hair loss.
Anyone can have alopecia areata. Men and women get it equally, and it affects all racial and ethnic groups. The onset can be at any age, but most people get it in their teens, twenties, or thirties. When it occurs in children younger than age 10, it tends to be more extensive and progressive.
Everyone is born with hundreds of thousands of hair on the head. The hair cycle consists of three phases: the growth phase, which is called anagen, the resting phase, which is called catagen, and the shedding phase, which is the telogen phase.
It usually begins with the hair on your head. There are three severe forms of alopecia, including: Areata (patchy hair loss on your head) Totalis (complete hair loss on your head)
If you're experiencing hair loss, thinning hair, receding hairline, or bald spots caused by health reasons, a clean-cut, buzzed look may be the best option.
The bad news is yes, but the good news is that stress-induced hair loss is usually temporary. “Telogen effluvium is the scientific name for stress-induced hair loss,” Robert Haber, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and hair transplant surgeon, tells WebMD Connect to Care.
The underlying principle is that scalp massage stimulates blood circulation of the scalp. This in turn stimulates the hair follicles into a growth cycle. Done consistently, this can help lead to hair regrowth, even in thinning or bald patches of the scalp.
Essential oils such as lavender, peppermint, rosemary, cedarwood, lemongrass, thyme, clary sage, tea tree, ylang ylang and horsetail plant oil have already been proven in various degrees to improve hair regrowth and slow down hair loss.
Bald spots of the scalp, brow, or beard are commonly caused by a medical condition called alopecia areata. It is also commonly called spot baldness, and it is believed to be an autoimmune disorder that causes the body's immune system to mistake hair follicles for foreign invaders, and then, attack them as such.