Alopecia Areata

Introduction: Alopecia Areata

Alopecia areata is a hair disorder typified by patching hair loss or patchy bald areas. It may be autoimmune, but seems to have many possible triggers or risk factors including stress. Alopecia areata may often resolve itself, with hair regrowth occuring in the bald regions. Less commonly, it may either worsen, or progress to alopecia totalis.

Symptoms of Alopecia Areata

• Hair loss
• Balding
• Bald patches

Medical Textbooks Online about Alopecia Areata

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Wrongly Diagnosed with Alopecia Areata?

• Misdiagnosis of Alopecia Areata
• Underlying causes of Alopecia Areata (possibly wrongly diagnosed)

Misdiagnosis and Alopecia Areata

Rare form of hair loss often misdiagnosed: a rare form of extreme hair loss called "Atrichia with papular lesions" (APL) is often misdiagnosed as alopecia...read more »

Hair and scalp disorders misdiagnosed in African Americans: A higher than average percentage of misdiagnoses of hair or scalp disorders seem to occur in African Americans....read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Alopecia Areata

Causes of Alopecia Areata

Read more about causes of Alopecia Areata.

More information about causes of Alopecia Areata:

• Alopecia Areata as a symptom

Videos for Alopecia Areata

Patient Surveys for Alopecia Areata

• Patient Profile Survey
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• Survey about the symptoms of your Alopecia Areata
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Reseach about Alopecia Areata

Visit our research pages for current research about Alopecia Areata treatments.

Clinical Trials for Alopecia Areata

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Alopecia Areata include:

• Alopecia Areata Registry - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Alefacept in Patients With Severe Scalp Alopecia Areata - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Alefacept
• Efficacy Study of Latanoprost and Bimatoprost Solutions in Promoting Eyelash Growth in Patients With Alopecia Areata - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Latanoprost (Xalatan),Bimatoprost (Lumigan)
• Plaquenil for Alopecia Areata, Alopecia Totalis - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Hydroxychloroquine
• Phase II Randomized Bilateral Comparison of Topical Targretin Gel 1% in Alopecia Areata - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Targretin Gel 1%

See full list of 9 Clinical Trials for Alopecia Areata

Statistics for Alopecia Areata

• Medical statistics for Alopecia Areata
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Alopecia Areata
• Death and Mortality statistics for Alopecia Areata
• Society statistics for Alopecia Areata

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User Interactive Forums

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Definitions of Alopecia Areata:

A microscopically inflammatory, usually reversible, patchy hair loss occurring in sharply defined areas and usually involving the beard or scalp. (Dorland, 27th ed) - (Source - Diseases Database)

Patchy baldness - (Source - WordNet 2.1)

Alopecia Areata is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that Alopecia Areata, or a subtype of Alopecia Areata, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)