The characteristics and how the diagnosis is made. The perspectives of therapy and other pathologies that lead to baldness but are different
What and who affects thealopeciathe ailment that Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from?
Alopecia areata is a disease caused by a immune system dysfunction which no longer recognizes the follicles, considers them enemies and therefore attacks them and blocks their activity.
It affects the 2% of the populationmen and women.
In alopecia areata there is the fall of the hair (in the active phases of the disease even more than 30% of the total) and sometimes even gods game of other parts of the body (eyelashes, eyebrows, beard).
It can be patchy (with areas devoid of hair or hair), total (when the loss occurs throughout the scalp), universal (if all hair and body hair falls out). Even in the case of alopecia areata, and in the most severe forms, hair regrowth can often occur without any treatment, particularly within a year of the onset of the disease (cure rate between 34 and 50%).
Female alopecia in Italy affects approx four million womenespecially after menopause, when the hormonal structure changes and the hair becomes thinner and falls out more and more.
For the diagnosis in women, the main marker used was once hyper-androgenism (the excess of male hormones), in fact it was found that female alopecia can be present even with normal levels of male hormones. The reference specialist, however, the dermatologist.
In alopecia areata present a strong genetic predisposition and even children can suffer from it.
Come therapyyou can choose between medicines that act on the autoimmune component of alopecia areata (such as i corticosteroids) or between active ingredients that can promote hair and hair regrowth (minoxidil, antralina). There are also substances that sensitize the skin by inducing eczematous reactions in the treated area (difenciprone, squaric acid). In the pediatric patient, topical immunotherapy is poorly indicated and applied. I’m in the study biological drugs promising, the so-called JAK-inhibitors, which may have both topical and systemic use.
Any treatment must be continued for at least 9-12 months before we can evaluate its effectiveness.
Also following a cancer it happens that there is one baldness more or less pronounced, in some cases due to the direct effects of the therapies on the hair follicles, in others just because of the strong stress to which it is subjected. One of the drugs used for this purpose is spironolactone, long under the lens of researchers for the estrogen-like effects that have made its safety in breast cancer patients questionable. Now a research published on the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
seems to authorize peace of mind in the use of this drug.
Hair loss may be due to other causes: for example the so-called telogen effluvium and androgenetic alopecia, the classic baldness.
The telogen effluvium an intense and generalized loss (up to 20-30% of the total hair), often extended to the entire scalp, which affects almost exclusively women. Often followed by the regrowth. A typical case is that of post-partum: during pregnancy the increased production of estrogen favors the activity of the follicles which, after delivery, are no longer stimulated. Also during breastfeeding increases prolactin, a hormone that further weakens the hair. Another period at risk that of menopause, due to the hormonal imbalance that is created. There are also, especially in women, forms of chronic telogen which are not simple periods of protracted fall but real alterations in the dynamics of the hair cycle: the result is an impoverishment of the mass, often with accentuation of the receding hairline. To diagnose telogen, people undergo a test called trichogram, through the provision of hair, which are then distinguished according to the phase of their life cycle: anagen (growth), catagen (involution) and telogen (rest). If the percentage of telogen exceeds 20% we can speak of telogen effluvium.
L’alopecia androgenetica precisely the most typical baldness of men and irreversible. In this case, the follicles shrink and therefore the hair becomes thinner, especially on the forehead and temples. This phenomenon, in a mild form, is very frequent with advancing age, even in women. Androgenetic alopecia affects approx 70% of men and 40% of womenespecially after menopause: in men it manifests itself with the loss of hair on the top of the head (which often remains completely bald), in women there is generalized thinning.
March 28, 2022 (change March 28, 2022 | 17:57)
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