Hello and welcome, Cinday! How are you, your husband and your boys doing today?
LeslieAnn

Hi Cindy, welcome to Alopeica World. My name is Cindy and I have a 7 yr old daughter. Glad to hear that your son is doing great..You will find a great group of people here.

Hi Cindy, you will definitely find comfort in dealing with Duncan's AA here. We are lucky that Samantha has a very positive attitude about the whole thing and honestly has never cried over her hair loss. She is an old sole that deals with everything in life with a positive attitude. She is an uplifting gal to be around. For just over a year now, Sam has been doing squaric acid. Her hair started growing this summer and is about 80% filled in. I have posted a pictures of various stages of regrowth on my page. She went from being totally bald to what you see now. She still has no lashes or brows, but the doctor feels like it will come in. We only treat her scalp. Basically, we had to sensitize her arm to see if her body would respond to the treatment. A response is in the form of a rash. Sam had some issues getting started, but the doctor has been able to work with Sam to make it work it. The major side effects is an itchy scalp and you must produce a rash on the treated area. For some it can be an uncomfortable treatment and not a lot of doctors use this treatment. Sam tolerates it all and I have always given her the choice to stop at anytime. She has had some other side effects and we have had to stop for a few weeks here and there, but over all she is having success. Her doctor is hopeful that this treatment is going to put her into a remission down the road. If you child has sensitive skin I would not recommend this..Do you know about the Childrens Alopeica Project? www.childrensalopeicaproject.org. They are having their first kids conference this summer, Alopeicapalooza. If haven't contact them. They may have families in living in your area in their data base that they can hook you up with.
Write anytime..Cindy

hi cindy im also an the uk and new to alpoecia world ive had a lovley warm welcome from people on here the sites made me feel loads better welcome karen.

We were given protopic at one point as well and it had no affect on Sam. I do know of a mom whose daughter used it in conjunction with something else. I am glad that you all are doing well....

Well, she got her 1 yr shots around mid Jan, and the hair started falling out mid feb. I'm not sure what all shots she gots, the usual 12 mo ones, there were a bunch. I have heard hair loss can be linked to the Hep B vaccine, which I believe was one of the ones she got. No, they will never say anything bad about vaccines as to not discourage anyone else from getting them. I used to feel drs knew everything, and folks who were skeptical were idiots, but I now know different. I too do not think that private school is hiding her away, but I think my husband has a harder time thinking about this as he doesn't want to think about this--he did not believe me when I wanted to get her in to the doctor after she had lost a bunch of hair, and we got in a huge argument that night. He later admitted he wanted to put his head in the sand. I have her right now on a steroid cream--betamethasone? something like that, and I saw yesterday she is regrowing hair in her original spot of loss--lots of tiny white hairs. It was exciting to see, but I know it may be very temporary. We see our derm in a couple of weeks. Yes, I agree it is different w/ girls, but what an amazing story about your little boy. Duncan sounds very strong, it sounds as though you all have handled this very well. I keep thinking that since this all started before she knows what is going on, I can freak out now and get it over with, so I will be in a much better spot to help her--as opposed to being just as shocked as she is. However, my almost 4 year old said to me the other day, is Gracie losing her hair? I know he does not notice it, but he has heard us talking about it. How does your older child feel about Duncan's situation? By the way, how small is your school? We have a private Christian school near us, but it is a bit large--I think my friend said there were 60 Kindergarteners, and the HS/MS is at a different location.. I'm wondering small, but how small would be good, as I there are very very small schools, but I worry about the education level at these--I'm hoping my son will be an engineer, he already is showing signs of being mechanically inclined!! ;) Angie

Hi Cindy, I saw you had pics uploaded of Duncan, and he is so cute!! How are you guys doing? Angie

Cindy, that is too bad about Duncan worrying about his hair at Kindergarten. It makes me realize that this disease and its ramifications are not a linear process, that acceptance can turn to grief, ect. I worry about when Gracie becomes aware of her disease, and how that will look. I've got awhile. She got lots and lots of regrowth, and then a few more spots started too. I guess that is normal. We will be seeing a well know hair loss specialist in Sept. Not sure if we'll hear anything different, buy I am tired of hearing from her derm that she has AA, but her ped says hold out hope that maybe it is not autoimmune alopecia. I hope to get a final answer! The steroid cream maybe helped, or maybe her hair would have grown back on his own anyways, but it causes this big dent in her head that her ped thought was her plates not coming together right. Turns out it was a side effect that the derm was able to pinpoint, and it is reversible. We're going w/o tx for now to see what happens. Luckily we didn't look further at it in the meantime w/ a CT scan!! I will be thinking of you as school starts, and I hope it all goes very well for Duncan. Keep me updated on how it goes this fall! :) Angie

Hi Cindy,
How are you and Duncan?
Tracy

I'm happy to hear the day went well! I have heard of doing a talk in school, but never a letter. That is a great idea, maybe a good one for when she starts PS--I worry the other parents will think she is catching, like ringworm. We just got back from vaca, and it was great, though Gracie learned to climb out of the pack and play--at 19 mo!! She's too young for this business!! :) But I am glad summer is ending, my 4 year old will go back to PS, and this year since Gracie is not napping in the am, I plan on doing lots of one on one stuff w/ her that I did w/ my son, so I'm excited for the fall!! Next year may be a different story when Jackson goes to all day K--that will be sad!! :) Angie

ty for addding me. Im very very new to this. I just learned yesterday my don (age 2) has AA

Cindy,
thanks very much for writing back. I've been going though so much emotions right now. Yesterday when i found out i shaved my son's hair completely. I showed him in the mirror his hair cut and he loved it. he couldnt stop feeling his head and smiling. It broke my heart some because i know that it might be the last time for him to see his hair. But i figure if he gets used to it now he will be fine. I've been trying to look for support groups but i just cant seem to find them either.