Is my Alopecia Areata active?

Will I lose more hair?

Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune condition affecting 2 % of the world.

 
The condition is well known to be challenging to predict what will happen in the future. In fact, AA tends to be one of the most unpredictable hair loss conditions. It can grow and fall at any time.

Even though AA is said to be unpredictable - it is not completely unpredictable. We have come to understand over the years certain scalp "dermatoscopic" features that suggest a patient's condition is active.

This includes:

• black dots (which are hairs broken right at the surface),
• tapered hairs and exclamation hairs,
• short vellus hairs and
• broken hairs.

These features all suggest ongoing inflammation in the scalp and a high likelihood of further hair loss.