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Pediatric and Adolescent Alopecia

Posted by Barb @amberpep, Aug 7, 2017

I have a dear friend whose 12 year old granddaughter has lost every bit of her hair. Her hair was gorgeous, long, brown, and shiny. Then it began to fall out in clumps, until now she is bald. The doctor diagnosed her with alopecia, but something doesn't feel right about that to me. Why would this happen to such a young person. She's a dear, sweet, girl, very conscientious and respectful. Can anyone tell me anything about this?

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mlock | @mlock | Feb 1, 2023

Hi my daughter developed alopecia at 2 years of age and is now 29 years old. Alopecia is an autoimmune disease. She started out by losing small patches of hair and then that hair would grow back and then it would fall out in other places until she lost all her hair and sadly bc of the hair loss she was badly bullied in school . My daughter has some hair now but not all of it bc she decided she wanted to try steroid shots which are painful. Stress has a lot to do with alopecia. We spent a lot of money on creams for her head from dermatologists but nothing ever seemed to work . We were told by a pediatric dermatologist that if you have the 3 combined of asthma hayfever and eczema that you would never get hair back at the natural hairline which is true for my daughter. My daughter still wears wigs to this day but it has sadly affected her self esteem due to the bullying she endured at school.

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Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Feb 2, 2023
In reply to @mlock "Hi my daughter developed alopecia at 2 years of age and is now 29 years old...." + (show)
@mlock

Hi my daughter developed alopecia at 2 years of age and is now 29 years old. Alopecia is an autoimmune disease. She started out by losing small patches of hair and then that hair would grow back and then it would fall out in other places until she lost all her hair and sadly bc of the hair loss she was badly bullied in school . My daughter has some hair now but not all of it bc she decided she wanted to try steroid shots which are painful. Stress has a lot to do with alopecia. We spent a lot of money on creams for her head from dermatologists but nothing ever seemed to work . We were told by a pediatric dermatologist that if you have the 3 combined of asthma hayfever and eczema that you would never get hair back at the natural hairline which is true for my daughter. My daughter still wears wigs to this day but it has sadly affected her self esteem due to the bullying she endured at school.

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@mlock, this must be so hard to witness as a mother. I'm sure you would've gladly exchanged places with your daughter if you could've have. I'm tagging @enoughalready to bring them back into the discussion to share as she too started with alopecia in the teen years and continues to live with it as an adult.

I bet she has some thoughts for your 29 year old and perhaps a kind message to her own 29-year-old self.

@mlock, bullying is hard to overcome and rebuild self-esteem. Has your daughter ever worked with a therapist to help her?

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gof169 | @gof169 | Feb 11, 2023

Has anyone had alopecia in a 9 year old male , total head hair loss?

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