to know about the disease that causes hair fall

The trailer of Shweta Tripathi's Gone Kesh went on air on Thursday and has garnered much appreciation on the Internet. But with a sensitive issue at its core, Tripathi plays a girl who loves to dance but is diagnosed with Alopecia Areata after her mother finds a huge chunk of hair from the bathroom and gets her checked up. The trailer has some instances when we see glimpses of Tripathi suffering from bald patches.

To put the condition in perspective, Alopecia is a form of hair loss that kicks in when your own immune system mistakenly views hair follicles as a threat to your health. This leads to patchy hair loss or complete hair loss on the head or of your body hair.

The condition though affects anyone irrespective of gender and age, according to MedicalNewsToday, most cases occur before the age of 30.


Types

The most common type of hair loss that men and women face is known as androgenetic alopecia.

The second most discussed type is known as alopecia areata. This leads to bald spots and is most common in people who suffer from autoimmune diseases.


One common form of alopecia areata is alopecia barbae, wherein the beard experiences patches of hair loss.

Causes and symptoms

The condition is known to occur when one's body's white blood cells attack the hair follicles cells causing them to slow down hair production. It is yet unknown what causes the body's immune system to target hair follicles in this way.

The most noticeable symptom of alopecia areata is the patchy hair loss. Coin-sized bald patches appear on the scalp, sometimes the beard and eyelashes.


Can alopecia be prevented or treated?

There is currently no cure available for alopecia areata, although doctors could prescribe some treatment forms to help the hair re-grow quickly. Since the condition is harder to predict, it is harder to prevent. But common treatments include steroid injections, oral cortisone tablets, and solutions to strengthen hair follicles.

Home remedies

Since conventional treatments for alopecia are still being discovered, possibilities of home treatments are even thinner. Though people recommend rubbing onion, garlic juice, coconut milk, cooled green tea bag - none of this is supported by research.