About Alopecia and my volunteering - Priscila Iwama

Alopecia is a condition that results in hair thinning, leading to its loss. The most affected areas tend to be scalp, eyebrows and eyelashes, and can appear in other body parts as well.

Studies have shown the disease is caused by anxiety, stress, and emotional shocks.

The size and number of areas with alopecia and its progression vary from person to person. The hair loss can happen in large amounts, changing the patients’ appearance and a lot of times affecting their feelings, making them decrease their self-esteem, and be less confident.

Doctor Aleksana Viana pointed out that the chance of alopecia being hereditary is 55%, but the cause can vary between: taking strong medicines, stress, lack of proteins, iron, biotin, and systematic lupus.

The world statistic is that more than 20 million women manifest alopecia, the scalp area being the most visible part, and more than 35 million men with this condition have the vertex area more affected.

Alopecia doesn’t make the skin red, doesn’t hurt, and doesn’t leave scars, however, some treatments might make the skin more sensitive and irritated.

There are different types of this condition, having distinct causes, which are:

• Androgenetic Alopecia also known as baldness, is associated with the testosterone in the blood flow, which is why most common in men.

• Traumatic Alopecia is caused by injuries in the head, or the habit of ripping the hair out.

• Total Alopecia is the loss of the hair strands, and doesn’t affect other parts of the body, just the scalp.

• Alopecia Aerata is a condition caused by the irregular loss of one part of the hair.

• Alopecia Universalis is classified as the loss of all the hair in the body.