Conditions
Alopecia
When presenter Gail Porter lost much of her hair because of alopecia she refused to wear a hat or wig, deciding instead to maintain a public profile and raise awareness of the condition. Alopecia is an autoimmune hair loss disease that affects 1 in 100 people, and can strike men, women or children of any age. The onset of hair loss is often sudden, random and recurrent, and can lead to either patchy or complete loss of hair on the scalp or body. The notoriously familiar male/female pattern baldness is another form of the condition. There is no single cause – it can be hereditary or genetic, the result of trauma or stress, or even medication. However, people who have had eczema, asthma or a thyroid disease are more prone to the condition. There is no known cure or proven therapy to induce hair re-growth, but there are various treatments available. Hair loss isn’t damaging to health, but it can prove challenging.
+++UPDATE+++
In the episode first broadcast on 13th May 2009, an over the counter product called Minoxidil was recommended for Caroline’s treatment – which is sold under the product name of ‘Regaine for Men’.
Always seek advice from your doctor, as people suffer with different types of Alopecia and different treatments are available, although not always effective.
If your child is suffering from Alopecia, read the special kids guide to the condition.
Watch 12 year old Lauren get a weft fitted in the Clinic Consultation: Alopecia video.
Comments and Questions
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Please note: Unfortunately Channel 4 cannot respond to individual inquiries. If you have any concerns, you can check out NHS Choices, but ultimately it is always best to check with a health professional.
My daughter had her first onset of nonscaring Alopicia when she was 10, she is now 13 and she is going through her 3rd recurrence. She is going for injections every 4 to 6 weeks, however as soon as her hair starts to regrow it seems to start balding again. She is at a point where depression has set in and I don't know what I can do to help her understand her condition. She cries and wants to know why is this happening to her. Is there hope? Will she eventually outgrow this? All kinds of blood test have been performed on her, even a biopsy. The Dermatologist treating her said it's probably due to stress. Is there a specialist that anyone may be able to refer me to? I am willing to try and do anything, I worry as she reaches her high school years this will be even more traumatic. My heart breaks when she prays to the Lord to please bring her hair back.
Elena, read my posting below and try her on some Co-enzyme Q10. It can be bought in most health shops and can do her no harm
I had alopecia universalis 22 years ago and went to the specialist at St Thomas's hospital who said my hair would never grow back. After 4 years I had accepted the condition and wore wigs. One day a client suggested I try a nutrient that back then was quite difficult to find. Anyway I started taking it and within 10 days some fine fluff appeared and gradually all my hair grew back in the next 3 years and remains normal to this day. When I showed the "specialist" the new fluff growing he could not have cared less and just told me to cancel my next appointment if it continued to grow. It may only work for a few of you but even if it only helps one person I would be happy --- I took Co-enzyme Q10. Back then you could only get 10mg and 30mg strength now you can buy 150mg and even 400mg capsules. I would suggest you start with 75mg or 150mg daily. The first thing I noticed was an increase in energy --- this indicates that you are deficient in this enzyme, this is a positive sign and hopefully hair growth will follow
where can i get this product from, im now a 50 year old woman and been living with alopecia totalis for over half of my life
Mary you can source CoQ10 from health food stores and on-line from many companies.As I said get 75mg or 150mg and take once daily Buy capsules NOT tablets. May I ask whether you suffer from fatigue and also if you are blood group O as deficiency in coQ10 will cause chronic fatigue and is common in blood type O. You have had the condition a long time so I would be intrigued if this were to help you.At the very worst you may feel better than you have for years Hope it does --- good luck!
Hiya I'm going bald and im only at the young age of 21 and its nearly gone, were or who do you recommend I see to sort this out surgically?
take a look at my posting on 19.1.12. Hope it helps. BTW good luck with the GCSE exams
hey im 15 and i think i have alopecia. my hair started falling out a couple of months ago and now its constant. i have a growing bald patch on the back of my head and its getting harder to cover as im getting more bald patches. im going through my gcses and it doesnt help, just makes me more stressed. i havent told anyone about my problem, and i was just wondering if anyone has any advice for me? id really appreciate it!
Hey Kim, take a look at my posting of 19.1.12. Hope it helps and good luck with exams
Hi everyone, I am sorry to read so many sad stories on this form regarding hairloss. I suffered from it myself and so I know what many of you are going through. Eventually I went to see a chinese herbalist and found that they could treat the problem successfully through a combination of chinese herbal medicine and Fabao 101 Hair lotion. Please be aware that whenever you are going to try a treatment like Chinese herbal medicine it is best to consult your GP first so that you can be put in contact with a fully qualified chinese herbal practioner. This is essential as it would be dangerous to see any Chinese doctor or doctor of any kind who is not fully qualified. Chinese herbal medicine is safe providing you see you a qualified Chinese herbal doctor. You can find a list of qualified Chinese practioners on this website which lists members of The Register Of Chinese Herbal Medicine practioners: http://www.rchm.co.uk/. As far as I am aware there is no chinese herbal treatment available free on the NHS (thought I could be wrong!) so its something you would have to speak to your parents about so that they could assist you with the costs of this treatment. It costs about £35 per week for the chinese herbal medicine plus the cost of the Fabao 101 Lotion which can be bought for about £20-£25 and lasts for about 3-4 weeks depending on the size of the hairloss. You could also discuss this with your GP to discover whether there are now currently any Chinese Herbal doctors treating patients within the NHS and whether you could have this Chinese Herbal treatment for free. The hairloss itself can be caused by many different factors for both women and men and tackling these causes is also important too. Stress can be a key factor in hairloss and treating the causes of stress is vital for long term successful hair growth. So if you are or have suffered from pro-longed stress then perhaps going to see a counsellor or a psychotherapist would be a good idea as it will not only allievate any immediate stress and anxiety sympthoms but it will teach you ways to cope with life so that you can avoide having this stress in the future too. Removing or allievating the stress through seeing a counsellor will also make it easier for your hair to regrow too. Hairloss can also be caused by poor nutrition too so reading up on which vitamins and minerals are important for hair growth is also important too. Taking these supplements again can only be useful in getting your hair grow back again. Having a balanced diet is also important. Hair needs a diet rich in protein to grow so a diet rich in chicken, eggs etc would be useful. Eating lots of fresh food vegetables etc is also good. This is something again you can read up on over the internet. The chinese herbal medicine itself is prescribed differently for each patient and is composed of several chinese herbs which you have to boil with water and then drink twice a day. Be warned it is bitter! But you do get used to the taste after a while. The herbal medicine treats the inside to stimulate the hair to grow while the Fabao 101 Hair lotion is rubbed on the scalp twice a day to stimulate hair growth on the surface of your head. This treatment has worked for me many times though I cannot guarantee it will work for everyone as you need to book a free appointment with a fully qualified Chinese Herbal doctor so that they can assess the causes of your hairloss and to see if it is suitable for you. It can be expensive too as the treatment usually lasts a few months and so having the support of your parents with the costs of the treatment is also a good thing too. Please also be aware that Minoxidil has to be used forever otherwise whatever hair growth you obtain will fall out again but with Fabao 101 Hair lotion it is only used until your hair grows back and then you can stop its use. It is also an award winning product which has won many scientific awards for treating hairloss. You can find information about this product on the internet. Many thanks.
Hello everyone, im sorry to hear u all got alopecia i really am :(x I had it terrible at the age of 6 and it the come back when I was 13. Im 19 now onthursday and it hasn't happened since thank god. But lately I have had quite a lot of hair come out and its making me think back to when I had it x :( God bless u all x please comment back x
Hi, Im 19 years old.. in University and have Alopecia Areata for the the last 15 years now.. it was to a point where I had no eyelashes and no eyebrows at the beginning. Being a young woman is really hard having such a condition with having hardly any hair on your head and you have thousands of people looking at you for that reason. You loose self confidence and as well as stress triggering it, having alopecia can also become such a stress factor itself which can make your alopecia even worse. Ive possibly tried everything there is for alopecia and still left with no hope for all my hair to grow back. I have patches all over my head and my hair line at the back stops from my ears down so there is no way i can ever tie my hair up again. Its hard having it as Im so self conscious about it every single day. Ive also tried wigs but not the best ones so theyre kind of uncomfortable. Any help or advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks a Bunch
hi there, i suffer with the same condition.initially my hair loss was just patchy. It was very stressfull watching my hair fall out more by the day and trying desperately to cover it up.eventually i thought "i've had enough" and did a gail porter (shaved the whole lot off!!) it took a lot of strength to begin with to go out totally bald. but now, my friends ,family and work colleagues are used to it. And so am I. I feel less stressed and dont worry about it anymore. if my hair comes back that would be great , but i'm not going to let baldness ruin my enjoyment of life. hold you head up high and be strong...!
hi I've been suffering with alopecia areata since i was 16 I'm 24 now. It really puts me down i can't go out the door without a cap on because i feel embarrassed, it also makes it hard for me to find a job because i won't go to work without a hat. I just wanted some help to find out what i can do. Someone please help me as I'm becoming really depressed and can't take this any longer. I Just wanna be myself again. Thanks
hey , im 15 years old and have recently suffered hair loss , it has been going on during my gcses and i was wondering if stress could be the main factor. it started off as a patch about the size of a hazelnut on my scalp , and it has now grown back a different colour. now i have found another patch near the priginal patch but it is smaller, as doesnt appear to have grown back. it is close to my parting so it is visible. i am realy concerned and very upset about this hair loss and would realy like to be more infrmed about the disease. i have had a blood test but the results have nt come throught yet. if anyone coudl help me that would be wonderful. writing this was not easy and no one understnads what its like to loose your hair at such a young age.
hi and im 32 years old and have got alopecia universalis now for 28 years now and i am happy and i were nice wigs now
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