3 FFA cases in one family

I come from a family where there are 3 FFA cases: 2 female (myself included) and 1 male.

I was diagnosed in 2013, at age 42, though I had had some loss of eyebrows since I was 40.

This year, in February, my mother was also diagnosed, at 82 years old. My uncle, his brother, has sadly passed away in 2014, and was never officially diagnosed, but given his hair loss pattern and total loss of eyebrows, there is no doubt in my mind that he was an FFA sufferer himself – I always knew him like that, so he developed the condition at least 40 years before me.

The fact that my mother (who lives with me) has developed FFA after me and at such a different age from mine, leaves me quite curious…

Is there anyone else here with more than one case of FFA in their family? If so, can you share whether the development of the condition was almost simultaneous in their situation?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MnM on June 1, 2016 at 11:50pm
Hi Isabel. My mom and I both have FFA, we were diagnosed in the same year, me at 29 and my mom at 57. My diagnosis is what triggered her to go to the dematologist. My symptoms came on fast and resulted in a lot of hair loss and brow loss within the year I was diagnosed. My case is more symptomatic with visible inflammation, itching, redness and scaling. My mom has only had the hair loss pattern of FFA and brow loss, no real symptoms though. Our FFA came on at the same time, we don't live together, though we live in the same town. I think stress triggered mine, I was working full time and was a full time grad student. I definitely think there is some sort of genetic link.
Permalink Reply by Maz on June 4, 2016 at 9:51am

Hi MnM. That sounds so like my daughter and I. The only real difference is that we are both older, my daughter in her 30's and me in my 60's and we live in different states. There is also the fact that I am undiagnosed but so obvious that there's no reason to rush to give someone money to tell me what I already know. I also believe that there is a genetic link. There may be triggers, eg stress, etc. but the pattern of loss virtually points out a genetic link. There's no way that anything we have come in contact with would produce that pattern without affecting other areas. It's as obvious as male pattern baldness. My 29 year old son is receding and I know there is no other explanation other than genetics. For men it's usually different. They can shrug and say, Oh well, I got my grandpa's genes. They know it. It's so common that few get upset about it. How different it is for women. 

Permalink Reply by MnM on June 9, 2016 at 10:09pm
Yes, very similar! I'm in my 30s now and my mom is in her 60s, unfortunately we were both diagnosed over four years ago. I have two young daughters of my own now and I am scared to death that I've passed this on to them. I pray a cure/cause is uncovered before they would even have to worry about it. I hope more research is done that takes a closer look at the genetic side of this.

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