Alopecia Aeriota

Alopecia is simply baldness. The hairroot goes dormant and hair falls out. Alopecia Aerota is "areas of baldness", Alopecia Totallis "is no hair on the head...at all", Alopecia Universal is no hair anywhere on the body.

I have Alopecia Aerota. I have been completely bald twice (on my head). Right now I have a wide "mohawk" with bald spots. I can get my hair up in 2 pin curls! One on top and one in back. That's how my wig stays on.

If the hair cannot grow back with pigment, it may try without pigment (pure white). I have a few strands of the pure white hair.

I wear a wig to church, hats or scarves everywhere else. I let it all go at home. My scalp is very sensitive to the lace and other materials in the wig. Plus, even though it is a medical wig (airy) it does get hot.
But I don't have to worry about the rain. I just take the wig off, shake it out, and put it back on. Or just tuck it into my purse to stay dry!

Alopecia is not painful but can be emotional. It can be treated with prednisone injections into the scalp. These help the regrowth of hair for a while. But steroids have a lot of bad side effects and for me it just isn't worth it anymore.

I began the injections when I was 12. So long as I continued with them, my hair grew back. But, the steroids over the years have caused weight gain and emotional issues. I have had steroids for lung problems and joint problems as well. So, for the last 2 years I have avoided all steroids, pills, shots, inhalers... I am going to try to go 5 years without steroids of any kind. We will see how it goes!