I've been a fly on the wall here at alopeciaworld.com for a few years. Three years ago at 25 years old I started developing bald patches in my beard. One patch grew to the size of 2 quarters, then a new patch on the other side of the chin grew to a similar size. Both grew to about the size of 4 quarters. They started to develop a couple of months after I had a car accident - nothing major, but enough to screw up my knee for which I am still in physio for. I remember hunting the web for similar situations when my alopecia started to develop, so thinking back to that I decided I may as well contribute my scenario in case others are in a similar situation.

Of course whether or not the car accident triggered the alopecia is up for debate, but my doctor said she had seen it happen before. I also made some small life adjustments based off of what I have read on this site, such as cutting back drastically on dairy, and avoiding certain chemicals found in shaving creams and deodorants after others reported improvements when cutting propylene glycol out of their life.

Today, my knee feels better than it has since the accident (it hurts whenever it is bent - something called patellofemoral pain syndrome). And now my bald patches seem to be going away after growing slowly, but steadily, over the past 3 years.

I also added a dog to my life. I feel this is worth mentioning because beard hair growth is first triggered by the hormone changes experienced during puberty. This dog, an extremely stubborn handful of a doberman, has definitely caused more hormones to flow and a number of other life changes. I'm more active with the dog and experience more angering situations - which I'm sure will fade as he matures from puppyhood.

Whether it was the dog, the dairy, the knee pain or the chemicals in toiletries, or something else entirely, you almost can't tell I have alopecia from certain angles, and I have no reason to believe it isn't going to continue in that direction. I run a small business which comes with significant stress, stress which has increased during this time, so I'm not sure if that plays into it. It could be improving all by itself, having nothing to do with these ideas, and it may come back, which seems common. But for now I am optimistic...