Hey everyone, I'd first like to say how great this community is. I have been lurking around for a little while, but haven't found anyone or discussions with the same problem I am having. So I'll break it down for you.

I've had eczema since I was 2, in my childhood I was told it's chronic and spent many years finding the perfect routine to manage it. I tried the whole dairy free approach but I was never a milk-happy kid so I didn't really see a difference. I have never noticed my skin to get worse from the food I eat (although I eat very healthy and always have). the usual factors for my eczema include: climate changes; the changing of seasons in Toronto always brings about some ugly rashes, Stress; although I find stress to be a very vague cause I consider it to be more of a correlation than a cause however the worse my skin is the more stressed i become so who knows, and of course scented lotions and itchy fabrics. All my life the conidtion has been cause by more external factors. That being said, as I got older my eczema got much more mild. As a kid the skin on my fingers would crack along the knuckles and the skin on my body would be so raw that even the most mild of lotions would cause a painful stinging. Those days were rough, but after puberty my skin calmed down and now I am actually complemented on my hands.

BUT!

In January of this year (2012) my skin go so bad, from head to toe literally. It was definitely part stress and part winter. I eventually asked my dr for a cortisone cream to get rid of it. I had given up the steroid cream as a kid because it made my mother uneasy knowing how it thins the skin and causes sun sensitivity. within weeks my full body flare up (think blister rashes) was gone. Although I noticed a dryness on my scalp that persistently worsened

About my scalp:

Around spring time I began to feel painful bumps and flakes on my head. In the past I had gotten a random boil type thing on my head that was painful but eventually went away. But this case was different, at the time I just shrugged it off thinking it would solve itself (i dont know....). I would put egg and honey in my hair to help the skin. At times used olive oil and avocados too. But the flakes and bumps remained, neither worsened or reduced. I began trying to pick out the flaked out of annoyance, it was just ugly. There was one time, I remember clearly, I was reading in bed and touching a particularly big bump on my head. I put pressure on it and felt a pop and some gunk oozed out. That was in June-July some time. I really didn't think anything of it. I have very long curly hair and so shedding is a normal thing for me. Although the rate of my hair shedding did seem a bit strage to me at the time, I againg shrugged it off thinking it was just because of the changing seasons or whatever.

then in mid august I was getting my hair cut and the hair dresser pointed out a small bald patch on the back of my head, where that bump had been before. She told me it wasn't uncommon and just to keep an eye on it. And I did. By september the patch had doubled, but I had not had any rashes or bumps in the area. I made sure not to pick at the flakes but the spot just kept getting bigger.

By october the bald spot had gotten so big that when I put my hair up you could see the bare skin in the back. And soon after I noticed some smooth skin appearing around my hair line around my temple. At that point I panicked and saw the dr available on my university campus (NOT HELPFUL). that spot has been expanding since, it's about the size of a canadian toonie. However, there was never any skin problems in the area and i never really scratched my head.

I am seeing another dr in two weeks, but in the mean time I am trying to find out what can be done. The spot on my back has become so large and my hair is thinning all over. At first I was crippled with fear and sadness, but eventually came to the decision that soon after my next dr appointment I will be purchasing a nice wig and shaving my head. My boyfriend is actually doing the shaving for me, he has been an incredible source of strength for me. I figure if the skin is causing the problem, I will be better able to treat the scalp without my mane in the way.

I have a question though. I can't seem to find a similar case to this because i have never had eczema above the neck before and i have never experienced alopecia. I am trying to find out the likeliness of my hair growing back after my skin heals? I just want to know if it will or wont so i can move on with my life and go hat shopping or something. Has anyone else experienced alopecia being triggered by eczema? Or knows of someone that has?

I have discontinued the use of all my hair products and started using Nizoral instead of my regular shampoo.But that really hasn't done much either.

I'm really sorry for the length of this but I have no where else to go with this question (until my appointment on Dec 10th, but i am not a patient person). I felt like giving the whole background would help in understanding my specific situation. Thank you to anyone who has read this in entirety. Any comments or ideas would be extremely appreciated!

(I have attached a picture of my head just for further information. it was taken a couple days ago)