I just started using a topical steroid. I'm scared. I guess I used it when I was a baby but when I started growing up I was ALWAYS scared to put something on my head Cuz I thought it would hurt the hairs that are growing back but the dermatologist said that it'll either do something or nothing. Has anyone had experience with topical steroids? if so please tell me your experience and fill me in. thanks.

Hi everyone,

I graduated a few months ago with a bachelor's in nursing, and I am taking the NCLEX (nursing licensure exam) in a couple days. I'm looking for advice from anyone who has taken the NCLEX or any other PEARSON test. I've heard ridiculous stories about how strict the security is at the exam, and I'm feeling worried. I wear a wig all the time, and I am very private about it. I don't know if they will inspect the head/neck well enough to know, and I don't know if they would…

Dear Alopecia World members, BeBold Make A difference Alopecia support group are supporting a members creation of a petition to the UK Government to drive research and funding into Alopecia Cause and Cure - I would like to get the word out and wonder if I can post the link on Alopecia World site - could the webteams confirm this would be ok??

The petition may only be open to those living in the UK, so perhaps the post could go on the Groups page - is a similar petition possible in the…

I am a bit of a cynic when it comes to taking pills to find a cure. I know there are a number of things out there that claim to 'regrow' hair. Although I have not wasted my money on these products and never will (I don't suggest anyone else does either) I did get thinking about just taking normal vitamins.

I was told once in hospital to take Vitamin Bs, Zinc tablets and Haribo sweets! I went out to get the suggested pills and tried to take them but never really committed to…

I went to get my first mammogram. I was already uncomfortable with the fact I could not wear, perfume, lotion or deodorant. I have anxiety from the horror stories of getting a mammogram. I enter the waiting area and all eyes are on me. Instantly it occured to me, my bald head was associated with me perhaps having breast cancer. I suddenly felt like the star attraction at a freak show. I was filled with many emotions in which I could not easily identify. It took every ounce of my energy not…

Found this article online, and thought it might encourage men on this site!

Men With Shaved Heads Appear More Dominant, Study Finds

The Huffington Post | By Jessica Misener Posted: 10/01/2012 5:39 pm EDT Updated: 10/01/2012 6:20 pm EDT

A new study suggests that balding men should just go ahead and Bic it all off: society sees men with shaved heads being more "manly."

Alfred Mannes, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, published…

ive been going back and forth about shaving my head ever since i was diagnosed. i started with shaving the side, then some more, and today i went to shave the other side. as i started cutting i began getting frustrated becuz all i could focus on was my thinning crown area. in that moment i decided that i was better off just doing all of it.

ive had this headache about my hair for months, and im tired of letting it consume me. everyone on this site is beautiful bald or with hair. my…

My son was diagnosed with AA at 12 months. He finally grew some hair a couple of months earlier and it started coming in nicely. Within just a few weeks, almost all of it was gone. He was left with this weird little patch of blonde curls on the top of his head that made him look like one of those cute little cartoon babies with his big blue eyes the way they are. He lost all of his eyelashes and eyebrows, too.

He is now 21 months. He has a newborn little sister and is starting to get…

Hello all. I've read about the wide diversity of alopecia we have although I haven't come across a case quite like mine. It is a rather normal looking male pattern baldness except the fact that I am only 27, and have had it sense 10-11 years old. I've said before, It's rather fitting when wearing a suit Ha. But what is interesting to me is I also have an oval shaped spot on my left arm triceps and the same on my right arm only half the size at the elbow. Also my lower legs have only…

I love my husband, but he has a hard time with me being bald and there are some days I just want to rip my hair system off because I do not feel like me. The real me is bald, but i guess in someways I am scared to be bald because when people ask me if I have cancer I get frustrated and have to explain the diease and people have never heard of it.

I love my husband and he has been my rock through all the tests, wig fittings, the shaving of my head ritual, and just plain breaking…

This sunday me and my husband tok a walk on the beach. It was very windy and the waves was high. The dog loves to run into the ocean and back up on the beach. They get a lot of sand in their fur that comes of at home on the floor later.

I love to take these long dogwalks in the weekend when I have time for it.

Later I trained my pony to walk in to the trailer.I'ts nice to have the time to "play" around with my animals.

It's getting colder by the day and this morning it was only…

i started noticing about 5 years ago that the hair at my temples started thinning out and breaking off. the pieces will grow to about 2" as of now. then, in july of this year, i started noticing the rapid thinning of the hair on the crown of my head. i went to the dermatologist hoping it would be stress related, but i had a gut feeling it would be genetic. ive always had higher levels of testosterone, so i kind of knew. the dermatologist said that it was, in fact, genetic. androgenic…

I'm new here , don't know what to expect but I thought I'd give it a try , "suffered" for 10 years , the eyebrows disappeared around 1995,and had patches from childhood. I am 50 and happily married with 2 kids, generally go through life not thinking about this , only time I'm aware when I return to my hometown in Scotland ( I live in England) as everyone remembers me with hair as I went to live in England with a full head of hair . I am totally "accepted" although I fell very self -concious…

I have had eczema for 10 years, but have really struggled with it for the past 6 years. I have used creams and lotions as prescribed by my dermatologist.

I got so fed up with it last year and saw an allergist. I didn't show as having any allergies. The allergist suggested I could see a dietian.

I saw a dietitian in May 2011, I started a 6 week elimination diet. Basically cutting out lots of foods and get foods out of my system. This continued for a while, because I kept eating…

Hi all,

Need some help and advice. I have alopecia totalis, i was diagnosed in june and now have no hair at all on the top of my head. I always said i would never shave it as iwanted to keep any hair that i had left...well it's now got too much and I thought, how about I do a sponsered shave? I want to shave my head and donate the money to some sort of alopecia charity but dont know how to go about it...any advice?

Thanks xxx

"You should just cut the rest of your long hair off. It'll be different, but you'll get used to it."

This is what my nine year old son told me this morning, and there is wisdom in his words. The remaining long strands serve little purpose (except to be pulled back to do the pony tail and ball cap thing on the weekends as a welcome break from Harriet the Wig), and now look just as ugly as my bald patches next to the regrowth that's anywhere between 1/4 - 3 inches in length. I am…

Hi I have alopecia areata universalis. I got it suddenly at the age of 28. I went from having a full head of thick long hair to nothing in about 3 weeks. I also lost my eyebrows, eyelashes etc over the next few months. I don't remember ever having any bald patches growing up, but I did have very thick hair. Finally to my question, this morning I was blow drying my 10 year old's hair (since she is 10, she does her hair most of the time) and I found a round bald spot on the back of her head…

I have not posted in awhile, which I think in some ways is a good things as it means I have not been troubled by anything alopeica related. Until now...

Now I don't know if anyone will see this but worth a try... but my issue is I have started to get a slight bit of regrowth on just one eyebrow in the corner nearest to my nose..

Now I am actually starting to get weary of this as currently I do not draw my eyebrows on or anything, no one ever says anything so I just get on with it.…

I have a much longer blog entry coming (been writing it in my head' for months), but I didn't feel right letting more time go by without writing a post and letting everyone on this site know how much I've appreciated their posts and discussions, and how some days just reading through all the different ones, recent or not, has been the only thing giving me strength to face the challenges of losing my hair/brows/lashes.

So, thank you, all of you, for putting yourself out there and…

What type of foods should we be eating? And what type of foods should we stay away from???