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Alopecia

Published: 4th Apr, 2022

Context

The Oscar slap that overshadowed the Academy Awards ceremony brings Alopecia in news.

About

About Alopecia:

  • Alopecia is a medical word that refers to hair lossAnd there are descriptors added which can refer to where the hair loss is occurring, or to the cause of it.
  • Traction alopecia, for example, is hair loss from trauma or chronic inflammatory changes to the hair follicles.

What causes alopecia?

  • Traction alopecia happens when there is trauma to the scalp, where the hair is being pulled or rubbed on a regular basis, causing inflammation around the hair follicles. This can lead to hair loss or thinning.
  • Alopecia areata describes hair loss to a particular area. It has different levels of severity, so there might be just a coin-sized area of hair loss on the scalp, or it could affect large areas. It can occur at any place on the body.
  • Or it might result in complete hair loss on the scalp, alopecia totalis. Some people lose eyebrows or see a thinning of their eyelashes.
  • People can even have alopecia universalis, which is a loss of hair on the entire body.
  • Alopecia areata is considered an “immune-mediated” type of hair loss. The immune system is attacking the hair follicles. It has to do with T cells, the important white blood cells in the immune system.
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