Ayanna Pressley Broadens the Range of the Black Hair Conversation

In a powerful video released Thursday, the congresswoman discussed living with alopecia and the importance of Black women seeing themselves represented.

 Patient Voices: Alopecia

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease that affects about 140 million people worldwide and results in the loss of hair on the scalp and elsewhere. What is it like to suddenly discover mysterious bald spots on your body and a new reflection in the mirror? Five people with alopecia speak.

 Soon There Will Be Unlimited Hair

New uses of stem cells and 3-D printing could make baldness obsolete (for the wealthy).

 To Shave Or Not To Shave...

I felt something akin to grief over the loss of my hair. I felt like my identity had been stripped away and I’d been handed this new one that I didn’t know what to do with. Even in the years that I’ve had regrowth, I thought “that’s not me, it’s not even me with short hair, who is that?”

Alopecia areata

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder characterized by transient, non-scarring hair loss and preservation of the hair follicle. Hair loss can take many forms ranging from loss in well-defined patches to diffuse or total hair loss, which can affect all hair bearing sites.

Drug Offers Hope For Those With Alopecia Areata

For millions of people, the condition, which causes hair loss, leads to shame and mental anguish. NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks to Dr. Raphael Clynes about a possible cure.

Explainer: what causes alopecia areata and can you treat this type of hair loss?

Alopecia is the medical term for hair loss and comes from the Greek word alōpekía referring to the skin condition, mange, in foxes. Alopecia areata causes a unique form of hair loss different to the more common age-related male and female pattern hair loss. It’s also the most common autoimmune disease (when the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues), more common than insulin-dependent diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis or thyroiditis (inflammation of the thyroid).

I Fell In Love While My Hair Was Falling Out

This past February, while on vacation, I was preparing to shower when I ran my fingers through my hair and felt something smooth and fleshy at the back of my head. It was a dollar coin-sized bald spot.

Natural killer cells are at root of hair-loss disease

AN AUTOIMMUNE condition in which people lose some or all of their hair may result from mistaken attacks on hair follicles by the so-called natural killer white blood cells. The insight comes from a huge study that compared the genomes of more than 1000 individuals with the condition alopecia areata against those of people free of it.

Natural Treatments for Alopecia Areata

While there is currently no cure for alopecia areata (and no medications approved for its treatment), some people turn to a range of natural treatments and remedies in an effort to control the condition.

Nosological Nightmare and Etiological Enigma: A History of Alopecia Areata

The term alopecia, used by physicians dating back to Hippocrates, originates from the Greek word for fox, “alopex,” and was so-named due to fur loss seen in fox mange. “Areata” is derived from the Latin word, “area,” meaning a vacant space or patch. The first use of the phrase alopecia area is attributed to Polish physician John Jonston (1603–1675) in his book “Medicina Practica,” written in 1664.

The Lengths I Went to for Long Hair...

I’ve had alopecia areata on and off since I was 10. Now I’m 32 – so that’s two-thirds of a patch-filled life. During this time I’ve tried cover-ups and “miracle treatments”, all over the world. Here’s some of my most memorable…

Vitiligo and alopecia areata: Apples and oranges?

Vitiligo and alopecia areata are common autoimmune diseases of the skin. Vitiligo is caused by the destruction of melanocytes and results in the appearance of white patches on any part of the body, while alopecia areata is characterized by patchy hair loss primarily on the scalp, but may also involve other areas as well. At first glance, the two diseases appear to be quite different, targeting different cell types and managed using different treatment approaches. However, the immune cell populations and cytokines that drive each disease are similar...