Alopecia, Any other Parents, Nurses, Docs who can help?

Question

My 3 1/2 niece has it, and my sister just called me in tears because the baby, who is eight months old is losing her hair in the same manner. I thought this was hereditary, but maybe not. Is there any other reason why she's losing her hair? We also make sure we tell the older niece positive things all of the time. She a beautiful little , and i'm very protective of her in public. Thanks for any help in advance.

Answer 1

This website is VERY imformative..

hope you like it:)

http://skin.emedtv.com/alopecia-areata/a...

Answer 2

You mean Alopecia Areata?

There's no truly effective conventional medical treatment.

Anyway, goes away eventually.

Answer 3

o I'm so sorry! that must be depressing to watch as a mother or aunt...but you should try googling, I know there are support groups out there. Also I think locks of love has info that could be helpful, i've donated to them a few times and they have great website and customer service people...good luck

Answer 4

i'm so sorry you and your family is going through this. my twin sister has alopecia so i know how difficult it is to see someone go through it. my sister never lost any hair until she was in 6th grade and that time she lost all of her hair. we both talk now about how we think we both kind of blocked a lot of those memories out because it was such a terrible time. i have some memories of kids being so cruel, one older boy even tried to pull her wig off on the bus one day. as if adolescence wasn't hard enough, she had to go through losing her hair as well. i still tear up when i think about it. she grew most of her hair back a couple years later, had some bald spots but was pretty good for years and then lost it all again our sophomore year of college. that was 2 years ago and her hair is growing back great now. she's just trying to grow it out enough now that she can get a cute cut and stop wearing her wig again.

one of the hardest parts about alopecia is that doctors know so little about it. they aren't sure what causes it (it could be hereditary, caused by stress, diet, etc) and they aren't sure what helps treat it. my sister had steroid shots all over her head that seemed to help her grow her hair back some the first time and when she got bald spots but then she lost it all again, so who knows if it worked at all...or maybe just temporarily? we don't know.  

people are so cruel and rude. even this time my sister lost her hair, grown adults would stare and people would ask ignorant questions. what always gets us is when you see someone with no hair what do you automatically think? cancer, right? so why would people react so rude to someone with cancer? most people don't know about alopecia so you almost can't blame their ignorance but it's still frustrating. i know what you mean about being in fight mode when people stare...i'm so protective of my sister and i'm the same way.

i wish i had some good advice for you on how to protect your nieces. but no matter what you do or say, it's going to be hard. the best thing you can do is keep telling them how beautiful and special they are and as they get older help them be grateful that they aren't really sick. losing your hair isn't fun, but it could be so much worse. my sister always says she feels bad even being upset or angry that she's going through this because there's so many people with worse problems.

one good thing is though, as you may know, with alopecia they could grow their hair back and never lose it again. it's so random that you never know. so try to have hope. and if they aren't seeing a specialist already see if you can find a good doctor. i really pray that someday they'll find a cure or treatment for alopecia.  some treatments are experimental still but are worth trying because they aren't harmful. for example, my sister took athsma medicine for her alopecia because in some drug trials they found that it helped with hair growth. and vitamins are worth trying too if a doctor reccomends them.

sorry i wrote a book! feel free to email me if you ever want :-)