A few weeks ago, we started noticing that my 12 yo son's eyebrow hair was thinning on one side.  I started researching on my own, but when several people noticed on Easter and said something to him about it, I decided to call the Pediatrician.  At first, she thought maybe it was a fungus, so she swabbed the area and said we'd know in a month.  But then, I told her about the pitting of his fingernails that I'd noticed a few months prior.  She left the room for a while to read up on it, and said that both of those symptoms together made her think it was AA.  She sent us to a Dermatologist a few days later, who looked at his eyebrow and another spot on his head, and said, "Yep, it's AA".  He prescribed a liquid corticosteroid and said to put it on once or twice a day.  

We had previously been to this Dermatologist, because last summer my son had a weird growth on his head, on the same side as the thinning eyebrow.  The dr. shaved off the growth and sent it in for tests, and it came back as a benign cyst.  Well, that was last September, and because he shaved it off and then cauterized the area, he had a bald spot there.  We've spent the last several months combing his hair to the side, wearing a ball cap, etc.  to cover up that spot.  When we went in to see him about the eyebrow, he pointed out that there was a bald spot in that area of the benign cyst, but I said that I just thought it was because it was growing back.  Well, he pointed to an area right under it, and said it looked like a bald spot due to AA.  

Okay, so bear with me for a little longer while I go back a few years.  4 years ago, my son was playing backyard football with some friends, and suffered a concussion.  The dr. decided to do a CT scan at the time, just to rule out anything else.  Well, they found a very large arachnoid cyst, and because they didn't know if it had been there from birth, or if it was caused by the blow to the head, they life-watched my son to KC Children's Hospital.  It was determined that he's had it since birth, but the numerous neurosurgeons that visited his hospital room to question us couldn't believe that he has no neurological problems.  Some of them said it's the biggest arachnoid cyst they've ever seen.  Because he was having no symptoms, however, except for headaches from the concussion, they let us go home without doing any surgery.  That was December 1st.  After a couple return visits, however, and having one side of his face go numb (one dr. told us it was Bells Palsy & put him on a steroid), the Neurosurgeon decided to put in a shunt.  When we showed up for the surgery, however, and they did another MRI, it showed that he had some old hemorrhaging, so they put it off until April to allow that to heal.  

So...he had the shunt placed in April of 2012, and he's had no issues since.  Our appointments are down to once a year now, and while the cyst is obviously still there, his brain is no longer having pressure on it, so the shunt is doing its job.  

His arachnoid cyst (and shunt) is on the right side of his head.  The benign cyst that was removed was on the right side of his head, less than a 1/4 inch from the shunt.  The eyebrow that is thinning is on the right side.  Since he was a baby, he's had "cradle cap" that lasted past the infant stage.  It's always been more severe on his right side.  Is this just a coincidence, or is it all related?   My mommy instinct says it's related, but the doctors say no.  We're due to see his Neurosurgeon in July, but I think I'm going to call this week and tell them about the AA diagnosis.  I'm hoping they will see him sooner.  

If you made it this far, bless you!  I just had to get this all out, and am hoping for some insight and advice.  Thank you!