The AlopeciaBoy Network
Living Life Alopecian Style!
What to Expect
The main factor is that you are starting to losing hair for a reason unkown to you and you are likely panicing and running around looking for answers. Relax, take the time to read this stuff on this website and you'll understand a little more.
Find a good dermatologist who knows what they are talking about - get a second and a third referral if you have to and don't be shy about it. Most dermatologists want their day to finish, so look for someone who can explain, knows answers and also knows who else to talk to if they don't know.
The longer you leave yourself undiagnosed, the less chances you have of recovery.
Hairless Patches:
Most people first notice a small circular patch of baldness behind their ear, near the back of their head. The smooth spot can be from the size of your fingertip to the size of a quarter in diameter. More often than not, it begins just behind your ears, near the nape of your neck.
Other patterns of hair loss include whirling, where you lose your hair in a circular pattern around the top of your head, cross-hatch or grid pattern hair loss, and/or loss of hair just in your beard area (see Definitions for more info).
Alopecia areata is the first symptom towards progression to further hair loss and development towards alopecia totalis or alopecia universalis if treatment is not sought. You must realize not all treatments are effective though, so don't get stressed out for nothing..
Loss of Body Hair:
Once you begin to lose hair over the rest of your body, your immune system is well on its way to eradicating all hair producing cells in your system. You will lose patches of hair on your legs, arms, chest and private parts.
You may begin to see signs of losing hair on your eyebrow and lose eyelashes as well. These are all signs that your body is rejecting hair production. White hairs are a sign that your hair is losing pigmentation and they will break off easily.
White hairs:
In your bald patches you may find new thin white hairs growing. These are thin, some can be brittle and they will break off easily. These can either be a sign that your body is trying to regenerate hair and the cells are weakened, or they can just mean that your body is well on its way to quitting hair growth. These are pretty common in the early stages of alopecia universalis, and can last well into your final stage of complete bodily hair loss.
These hairs do not necessarily mean you are going to grow hair back - rather it means your hair has pretty much fallen out and these are the "stragglers".
On myself, I looked like a dalmation boy -- my hair had white patches, hairless patches, and other patches where my hair just kept growing like nothing happened (see picture above).
Even when you have reached full bodily hair loss, you will notice once in a while these little white hairs coming back - it doesn't mean you're growing hair again, it just means the hair growth you have is weak and has lost pigmentation. Some people see these white hairs growing in their armpits, their facial areas and even on their private parts. they don't usually stay long, though, and can easily be picked out.
Pitted or Discolored nails:
For some reason, I've heard from a lot of alopecians that they have small nail deformations, or what looks like someone taking a pin and etching small lines on the nail.
Extreme forms of nail conditions include splitting, cracking, bumping up a little or even having the layers of your nail beds split from each other. It isn't painful, but it does look a little disconcerting if you're used to having perfect nails.
I would recommend aganst putting on layers of nail polish to cover up the scratch marks and nail discolorations. Your nail will not be able to breathe properly, you'll dry out the nail and make it worse and the alcohol from the nail polish removers are going to dry ot your nails further.
People with high levels of chlorine in their water will notice the beds of their nails turning a little green, if your nails have split in layers. This cannot be helped, unless you seal the tips of your nails with a clear nail polish.
To keep your nail beds mosit, rub a moisturizer like Aveeno on them, take care of the cuticle, clip them short and make an appointment with your dermatologist to have them taken care of individually aside from your alopecia.
Loss of Cilia:
You tend to forget that we have hairs in our ear canal, our lungs and our nasal passage. Those hairs are growing just as much as the hair on your outer body grows, so when you lose your body hair, you're also losing those little hairs as well.
Losing these little hairs won't affect your hearing and it won't affect your breathing (other than losing that extra protection the hairs provided against pollen and dust particles). You won't lose your sense of balance (your cochlea that does that) and it won't cause your lungs to fill up with dust and pollution (everyone pretty much breathes pollution every day anyways).
I did have two good questions though -- I think Jim asked me, "Where do our lung and ear hairs go when we lose them?" That kinda caught me off-guard; we can sneeze the nose ones away, but where do the ear ones go? I couldn't find anything on the Net about that one...
The other question I had heard was, "If I breathe in pollen will it go straight to my lungs and into the bloodstream?" That was a good question as well, because I'm pretty much allergic to the planet (dust, pollen, feather pillows, animal fur). I don't know the answer to that one. I take Benadryls to keep my nose from running all the time, because I am allergic to dust, animals and pollen, so that's pretty much all year. I don't recommend it.
You really should see a doctor about getting tested for allergies if you're a total alopecian, though. It's pretty important.
What can YOU expect?
Well, it took me over 3 months to go from a moderatley hairy human to a smooth as a baby's bum alopecian. But that's me. You might not even lose all your hair if you have alopecia in its first stages (alopecia areata). You could stay with just patches of hair missing for a few years even, or you could go through the cortisone steroid treatments and boom, your hair comes back and you're fine.
You can choose to not do anything and your hair grows back on its own, or you can go through every treatment in the book (and there are some pretty nasty ones) and not one hair will come through. Alopecia is different for everyone but there are some common characteristics that turn up.
Everyone I've spoken with has gone through different time frames - some are even born alopecian. Others become alopecian when they turn 65 -- this is a mostly unknown circumstance of our bodies. Researchers still haven't figured out if it's a genetic disorder (where your hair gene is "turned off") or if it's an immunological disorder (where it's your body's immune system attacking the cells that grow hair). Maybe it's a combination of both -- who knows for sure. Our human science hasn't advanced far enough to figure it out, and scientists doing the research aren't really about to share most of their findings with each other because they compete for grants and funding. It's unfortunate but we are a capitalistic society, right now anyways.
Now What Do You Do?
Well, you can choose to see a dermatologist, an immunologist, you can access information through the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, you can purchase wigs over the internet, put eyeliner over the patching areas of your scalp to cover up... or you can do what I did -- grin, shave it all off, tie a bandanna on and go shoot a game of pool with your friends.
Your friends and family are your number one support group! But don't let them cry over your hair -- you lost cellular waste deposits (that's what hair and nails are -- excreted forms of cellular waste that your body doesn't use). I know it sounds weird but it's true.
The world is still a cool place -- go out and discover it! Create a new style - create your own style of life. Life is too short to be cooped up in your house hiding from the planet. Our lives are meant to be lived, not wasted away. You're losing a bit of hair - not your smile!!
Go out and live!
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What is Alopecia?
