Hello,

This is my first time posting on here. Hope I do it right. I'm stressing! Was diagnosed with Alopecia Aerota in May of this year. Then in June, my family doctor checked my thyroid. TSH level was .086. Was sent to an Endo and my TSH level was checked again in July and it came up to 1.18. Also, in April my gyno checked my thyroid and it was 2.04. My question is about my hair. It is coming out in handfuls!! How do I know if it is due to my Alopecia (possible diffused alopecia at…

Its always scary to take a leap of faith and sometimes you will stumble and fall, but when you make the landing and find yourself in a different place than you were before, that makes it worthwhile!

Other people are going to amaze you and disappoint you equally. I have been bullied to my face and shown pity because people assume I have cancer just as much as I have been called beautiful and brave.

You never know how people are going to react to you so instead of depending on…

Autoimmune Research Breakthrough

The National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF) applauds the National

Institutes of Health's (NIH) announcement that NIH

scientists and their colleagues have discovered that a gene called

BACH2 could likely play a significant part in the development of

autoimmune diseases. In a study of mice, researchers at the

National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute of

Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases…

Hi! I was diagnosed with alopecia areata last september right before my son's (minor) surgery. The doctors said it was probably stress and that it would be "totally fine" after steroid injections... it wasn't fine. It spread to about the size of a ritz cracker, right on the crown of my head, then I got another one right next to it. They responded well to the treatments, but 2 more spots showed up, and again, I went to get steroid injections. They seem to work for me, which I honestly am…

A friend offered me a 4-day ticket to Comic-Con this year, so I decided to make a costume I've thought about doing ever since I lost my hair in 2008 - the bald and sexy "Ilia" from the 1979 Star Trek movie. She spent most of the movie in a skimpy costume and is the only bald leading lady I think Hollywood has ever featured. For those who haven't seen the movie, here's a nifty 10-minute version of the whole movie SPOILER ALERT...this gives it all away:…

Well, I went swimming with my head under the water for the first time since I got AU almost four years ago! I had my wig on with the usual two pieces of tape, one at the forehead and one on the nape of my neck. I was on a backpacking trip and at one of the lakes I decided to give it a try. It stayed on just fine. I was able to brush my fingers through the wig while I was under the water to rinse it out a bit. I sat on the shore in the sun and after a bit the wig was dry and I just brushed it…

Hi all,

I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts on wigs - synthetic vs. human hair? Although I have was diagnosed almost 5 years ago I have lost 95% of the hair on my head in the last 3 months. So I have had to dive into this part of things. I bought a synthetic wig and I wanted to make it look like "my hair" so I got a long one. In less than a month it was 'clumped' and I couldn't brush it. The place I bought it replaced it but within 2 weeks it started again and I had to have it…

Hi guys!
Was just wondering about vacuum wigs, i currently wear a regular human hair wig but it would be really great if I had something that allowed me not to feel so cautious of it falling off! Does anyone have good/bad experiences with vacuum wigs or just information on them that they could share?
Much appreciated :) x

Hi I am just curious to those on tis site if any other members has Fibromyalgia as well as any form of alopecia?

I live with both conditions in severe forms.

I know some hair loss years ago was stress related but the facts on Fibro are a little anecdotal.

Hair loss made me lose a lot of self confidence and alo the rest at one point.

I have a loving close family but they cannot imagine the real me inside .

Should any reading this have FMS also or know anyone…

Just a a few thoughts, after a night out on Saturday I have realised that I have way more compliments since having Alopecia than ever before! My wig looks glam, along with my eyelashes and I have the smoothest legs without the hassle of waxing:)

I have had many hard times and still do but with each day I realise having AU is not the end of the world and there are many people out there who are less fortunate than me.

I’m a 32 year old South African female. I have lived with Alopecia Areata since I was 22 however for the most part I didn’t worry about it as it was just small patches here or there that came and went and were easily hidden.

For the past 2.5 yrs one patch has become a second patch & a third and they have all become friends…spreading up from my neckline and sides to the top of my head. Daily I am losing more hair and its getting more and more difficult to hide. Basically I have…

So I return to my dermatologist this week to see what he has next in his bag of tricks for me. We have just tried a round of steroid injections once a week for three weeks to try to "trick" my immune system and shut it down with zero improvement. He mentioned that next time we will try to take the opposite approach and "rev it up"??? Anyone tried this and what does it entail. I haven't been able to find any information on the internet. I was only diagnosed five months ago so I am still…

I remember the first time I saw my bald reflection looking back at me and thinking what a great shaped head I had. Of course I looked completely unlike anything I had ever seen in the mirror previously but I didn’t look like the hideous pictures on the doctors hand outs and at that moment, I just assumed this is how I’d look for a while until it all grew back. I felt happier at that moment than I had done for the previous few weeks having had to watch my hair thin and fall out, I felt in…

Hi,

Pease take one day at a time. It is not the end of the world. You will survive this one. I wish you great luck to fight this and get the best of it. You can talk to me any time you like to.

Nick

I keep finding more bald patches, the most I have had in years. I feel it's coming from last year when I had a very stressful time, nursing my beloved Grandad and Auntie in my home, who died from cancer.

But strangely I don't care, I have been through so much that hair loss seems so unimportant now. If anything I am using it like a badge of honour, yes I have seen through hell but I have survive. And if I loose all my hair. I will be fine, because over the last year I have found out who…

It's days like these when I really need support. I don't really know what to do with myself. My family needs me, and they are constantly upset by my lack of contributions to the household. As a teenager, I'm sort of at the whim of the adults in my household, and they don't always understand what's going on. I have cried countless times today, and probably will again.

I was diagnosed with alopecia in May, and it has progressed to about 60% loss. I also have diffuse hairloss, and my…