Alopecia Areata: A Case of Alopecia Areata in 6yr Old Twins.
Philip Kingsley was recently posed a question regarding a pair of 6yr old twins with alopecia areata and asked if they would grow out of it. Here is his response:
The word alopecia simply means hair loss. But it is the words attached that denote the type of hair loss. Areata means ‘in areas’, in this case specific areas of baldness that occur randomly throughout the head. It is thought that alopecia areata affects approximately 2 per cent of the population and of those about 98 per cent recover.
It is very unusual for twins each to have alopecia areata, because the mechanism for its formation can be complicated. Alopecia Areata is associated with stress factors, such as shock, an accident, a change in environment, or bereavement. And there is often a genetic predisposition. Even if they were identical twins, the effect of stress trauma occurring similarly in both would be unusual. As far as growing out of it is concerned, it is likely that they will, but unfortunately, not definite.
However, what may cheer you up is that my own daughter at the age of two developed a patch of alopecia areata after her brother was born. Without going into long details, it did regrow. I made a mild stimulant tonic and applied it twice a day (which may or may not have helped) and we made sure she got extra attention so she did not feel neglected with the new baby being there. Now she is an adult and has never had a relapse. On the genetic side, my uncle (my mother’s brother) had alopecia areata and so did his son, my cousin.
