What’s alopecia and the types of alopecia are common terminologies between people men and women alike.
Some people know alopecia in the wrong way, others know it correctly, and others do not know it at all. On the other hand, all of us seeking to know what’s alopecia meaning, because there is a lot of misinformation and circulated wrong definitions for-profit purposes and other purposes, which make us confused.
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What’s Alopecia
Alopecia is an abnormal hair loss; occurs for both men and women, in which the hair follicle cells are attacked because of the autoimmune disorder, then, hair follicles become to shrink, and excessive hair loss occurs.
Alopecia can affect people of all ages, even children, and teenagers, as well as, the world health organization approves that 147 million people around the world suffer from alopecia.
Types of Alopecia
There are several kinds and many types of alopecia, whether androgenetic, scarring, involutional alopecia, alopecia areata, etc. and it is considered as an explanation of what’s alopecia.
Androgenetic alopecia
Known as androgenic hair loss; It is a genetic condition that affects men and women alike but affects men with a high degree more than women, and appears in the age of 20s. Men with this condition called male pattern baldness and women with this condition called female pattern baldness.
Androgenetic alopecia is characterized by a receding hairline of the head until reaching the crown of the scalp in the men, and women have a different sign of androgenetic alopecia, which starts from the crown and frontal sides of the scalp.
It appears due to the imbalanced hormones in the body; the most effective hormones are androgen hormone, the estrogen hormone, and testosterone hormone, which is known as DHT.
Alopecia Areata
Alopecia areata is one of the types of alopecia, which is sudden baldness, causes patchy hair loss, and leads to complete baldness, which is known as alopecia totalis.
If you suffer alopecia areata, you might find hair on your shower drain, pillow, or brush; then, you might discover bald spots in the scalp, which take many different shapes.
It occurs in the whole body, which affects the scalp as a first degree, then, the beard and mustache as a second degree, then, any part in the body as a third degree.
Alopecia areata can be treated only by hair transplant because other treatments such as medications cannot help for alopecia areata.
Scarring Alopecia
Known as cicatricial alopecia; it’s different from alopecia areata because it has inflammatory and burning cells around the hair follicles, in which the person who has scaring alopecia might feel itchy and pain in the scalp.
The bald patches of scarring alopecia are expanding over time, and the edges of the bald spots look ragged. The acne and folliculitis that you suffered cause scars around the whole body hair and destroys the growth of follicles.
This permanent destruction of the hair follicle is untreatable except when you depend on a hair transplant procedure. Scarring alopecia is the popular meaning of what’s alopecia.
Involutional Alopecia
This type of of alopecia happens with age or due to stress and psychological stress, so thinning hair occurs, then, you will find bald patches in several areas in the scalp.
Alopecia Universalis
Alopecia Universalis occurs in all body hair, causing hair loss including the scalp, eyebrows, beard, and mustache. It happens at any age; in which genetic factors and the immune system affect hair follicles and cause hair loss and thinning.
Telogen Effluvium
This type of alopecia occurs when the person is exposed to something traumatic during life. Telogen effluvium is considered temporary hair loss and hair starts to grow after a period of about two or three months.
Telogen effluvium may occur after several infections, surgeries, or malnutrition. This type especially explains what’s alopecia means because trauma regards the main reason for alopecia.
Traction alopecia
Traction alopecia occurs due to the overuse of hairstyles such as extensions, cornrows, and tight ponytails. These kinds of hairstyles hurt the hair follicles, which pulls at the hair follicles over time, causing hair thinning and loss.
Trichotillomania
It is a psychological condition or mental disorder that causes hair-pulling, usually seen in children who pull out their hair, which leads to hair thinning, and hair loss, then, causing alopecia.
Sometimes it is seen in teens or elderly who passing on the mental disorder, suffer stress, or compulsive desire, so that, they pull out their hair because of tension.
Anagen Effluvium
This one type of types of alopecia occurs after the person exposes to chemotherapy, then, too much hair loss happens and impairs the hair growth.
The chemotherapy attacks fast-growing cells in the body such as cancer cells, and the other one of those cells in the hair follicles, so hair follicles are affected by chemotherapy.
Frequently, this type is the most dangerous meaning of what’s alopecia, in addition, it can only be treated by undergoing hair transplant procedures.
Alopecia Treatments
These types of alopecia are hard to treat with medications or other drugs, so the only effective treatment should be a hair transplant procedure, whether natural hair transplantation or artificial hair transplantation.
The hair treatment products such as drugs, oil, masks, etc. can help in some cases but cannot be cured the damage of the hair follicles, so the best healed for alopecia is the hair transplant operation.
Hair Transplant
It is a cosmetic procedure, in which the follicles are harvested from the back of the scalp, called the donor area, then, be implanted in the receptor areas, which is the area needed to be treated for hair loss, baldness, alopecia with its all types. Hair transplant procedure has several techniques such as FUE, DHI, and ROBOT.
- FUE technique: called follicular unit extraction, this will be the best method when harvesting 5000 follicles from the donor area. Mega FUE is two sessions with 7000 harvested follicles. This technique guarantees a natural result.
- DHI technique: called direct hair implantation, using Choi Pen, which device looked like a pen. The follicles are implanted one by one directly from the donor area to the receptor area, depending on Choi Pens in the method of implanting. This technique allows each follicle for implanting in a specific direction, depth, and angle.
- ROBOT technique: this is the latest technique in hair transplantation, depending on the help of the robot. This method minimizes the time, in which the time will be less than half of the usual time of the operation.
All the information about alopecia is mentioned in this article. If you suffer one of them, I would like to hear from you a callback, and one of our medical specialists will call you.