Description Alopecia Areata is a common autoimmune disease that causes adverse effects on the hair follicle which results into dramatic hair loss (Li, 2015). Not only does the disease cause changes in an individual’s outer appearance, but it has also been discovered to have many adverse effects on the psychiatric well being of the individual (Papadopoulos, 2000). Alopecia areata is non-scarring, does not cause inflammation, and can be seen in multiple areas of the body, primarily the scalp of the head (Kolalapudi, 2013). Alopecia areata “occurs in a patchy, confluent or diffuse pattern” (Amin, 2013). “The onset is usually rapid and this disease can evolve to a point where all the hair is lost on the scalp or even the whole body” (Tharumanathan, 2015). The disease can stop occurring in an individual for a prolonged time however the disease often resurfaces randomly and can vary in the amount of time it affects the individual. Severe forms of alopecia areata can be diagnosed as alopecia totalis, the total loss of scalp hair, and alopecia universalis, the total loss of both scalp and body hair (Rashid, 2015). Alopecia areata has been …show more content…
However, “it has now been widely postulated that alopecia areata is an organ-specific autoimmune disease with genetic predisposition and an environmental trigger” (Amin, 2013). Alopecia areata has been found to disappear and reoccur at any given time. Various factors could be attributed to the contraction of alopecia areata. Seasonal changes can cause patients to relapse as it has been reported that there is an increase in alopecia areata cases during the months of February and March (McElwee, 2013). It has also been postulated that inflammatory responses can alter the structure of the hair follicle causing the follicle to deteriorate with little chance of the follicle growing back to its’ healthy state (McElwee,