Comment by Tallgirl on March 9, 2011 at 12:48am

A pediatrician may do some tests to rule out medical causes, but you will need a good DERMATOLOGIST who knows alopecia well and is gentle to talk to you. Go to everything on this site, especially the children's and parents' groups.Are you sure no one pulled her hair in daycare?

Comment by Melissa(Breanna's Mommy) on March 9, 2011 at 2:19am

I am hoping the doctor will get me into a dermatologist...i will have to travel 2 hours to see one but it will be worth it...The doctor sais you can tell if her hair has been pulled out and because it is so shiney and no sign of hair that it hadnt been...I also talked to the daycare and they said they had noticed it anhour after i dropped her off but thought i knew ... I dont know how big the spot was at the time but i know that since then she is losing more and i have kept her home... the baldness is going through the whole top of her head making it easier to see her scalp but not jus tin one area...why is it going so fast i wonder? could it be something else...i am so confused and lost :(

Comment by Georgia Gardner on March 9, 2011 at 5:03am

One of the things recommended when I first lost my hair were steroid-type drugs and very very harsh chemical creams which had warnings like "dont expose to skin" on them. My mother, a doctor herself, refused to put me on such harsh and potentially dangerous medications, and now I thank her for it. Maybe it would have made my hair grow back, but it could have done a lot of damage. While it's clearly between you and your doctors, I would recommend being cautious with strong treatment so suddenly.

Most people who get alopecia (i think 95%) have their patches grow back within a year. I'm not sure about that statistic exactly, but if this is just her first patch, chances are that theres no need to panic quiet yet.

As far as what tests will they do, I had blood tests and maybe a skin swab. I was quite young and didn't much enjoy the blood test, but the pediatrician is well trained for that.

Her hair loss does seem quite rapid for alopecia, but alopecia is an unpredictable and incredibly personal disease. Everyone is affected by it in different ways, places, rates.


The unknown factor about all this is really the hardest part. In a lot of ways I think being young was a blessing for me. I didn't understand enough to be stressed by what you are going through for your daughter. This site should have some information you need and there are lots of people to ask and support you as you work through this. I'm so sorry for you that you have to go through this.

Comment by George Ortiz on March 14, 2011 at 6:49pm

for me personally I have always been a stressed out individual, very cautious, careful.
i first noticed alopecia when i was about eleven or twelve, a bald patch on eyebrow it went away with cortico-steroid cream and never returned until 2006.the cortico injections are very strong i know cuase i took them in 2006 for almost 1 year I had at first good results and them a horrible adverse reaction and other possible problems 1.5 years later with tendon tensil strength that may or may not be related to steroid injection, hair fell out for me right after quiting injections. I believe what we have is viral or bacterial in nature and that explains why , very young, young , and old people with without stress all manage to fall victum to this weird desease,.. did you know hemroids are caused by the pyoily virus not stress as suspected for countless years in the past? if this is interesting to you google the marshall protocol and read it for all its worth. Good Luck!

Comment by Melissa(Breanna's Mommy) on March 21, 2011 at 8:45pm

this is all interesting to me...the doctors are asking me about lupus etc.. saying that that is where they will start testing her as lupus and chrones is in my family...they said they all are the same line of diseases and he actually said viral to me as well....my ex is not co-operating with what is in his family so they will do extra tests that they might not have to but itis ok as long as they find some answers for me...when i was pregnant with Breanna I had strep B which is an infection in the uterous...my question is could this be from that? oh does the questions ever end? I am unsure of the steroids not sure I want her to have them as I have heard good and bad...we see the specialist Wednesday so the doctor is assuming they will put her on the steroids....is there any other way to go?

Comment