Alopecia Areata

Alopecia Areata: A Cause of Non Scarring Hair Loss

Alopecia areata is a form of autoimmune hair loss. Inflammation occuring deep under the scalp causes hair to fall out. The hair loss is non scarring which means the potential exists for hair to grow back. 

This photo shows the scalp of a man with advanced alopecia areata. Yellow dots represent keratin plugged openings of the hair follicles. Despite his widespead hair loss (involving 98% of this patient’s scalp), there are hairs on the scalp that appear completely unaffected by the immune reaction. Why that is remains unknown. Treatments for advanced alopecia areata include steroid injections, diphencyprone, anthralin, methotrexate, sulfasalazine, hydroxycloroquine and tofacitinib