Alopecia (hair loss) and babies..is it really due to stress?
By ellovire
@ellovire (409)
August 12, 2011 9:10pm CST
If alopecia is really due to stress, how come there are babies who have it? How can babies, on an early age, can have stress? Or they also experience stress?
I asked because two years ago, my husband had alopecia. And doctors would tell that it's mainly due to stress. His hair started falling, as evident on the floor, the pillows and shower drainage. And everytime he shampoo, batch and batch of hair can be easily pulled. He eventually decided to let go of all of his hair because he could not bear it anymore. A lot thought he was undergoing chemotherapy because it looked like that. That phase was really horrible. Just a while ago I just thought of searching for it for some read, and I learned that babies can have it too. Which made me wonder, how can babies have alopecia at a very young age?
1 person likes this
6 responses
@flowerfest08 (1677)
•
13 Aug 11
hi:)
I think there's so many cause of alopecia, not only stress but also sometimes because of hormones or because of medicines that can cause imbalance to the hormones, I saw some that are like that and their hair falls so easily but some hair grows on some part of the body...but I know its treatable.
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@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
13 Aug 11
Sorry to hear that your husband is experiencing Alopecia. There are several forms of alopecia and my understanding is that some are due to hereditary more so when it is in children. Usually when Alopecia starts it starts in patches.
In wikipedia it does say:
"There are a few recorded cases of babies being born with congenital alopecia areata; however, these are not cases of autoimmune disease because an infant is born without a fully developed immune system" It appears that it has to do with the immune system not related to stress.
Here in the Wikipedia link it explains the different types:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alopecia_areata
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@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
13 Aug 11
hi ellovire I am not going to go over what others here h ave
already caused but I know a lot of babies normally shed some baby hair then grow a heavy new set of hair while still a baby so
some of that is normal for new babies. other forms in children have to do more with stress than with the immune system. When their immune system is fully grown and they are growing and changing their hair usually will grow back in really full.
@purplealabaster (22094)
• United States
13 Aug 11
There are different kinds of hair loss and different causes for them. You can't compare a baby losing hair to an adult losing hair, because in almost all cases they are not the same. It is common for babies to lose their hair. Many times, this is due to the fact that they can't raise their head, so the friction from them turning their heads on whatever surface they are laying on causes the hair to fall out. They can also lose their hair due to hormonal changes that are common in the growth process. Hormonal changes in adults can also cause hair loss, but it is usually not a "normal" process like it is for babies.
@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
31 Oct 11
I wonder howcan babies have alopecia that is stress related, if the hair loss is due to chemo therapy or typhoid fever, the hair comes back with time..
But if it is herditaru, than it will never come..
@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
13 Aug 11
My husband had a different type of alopecia before. It is called alopecia orata, where it forms a patch on the hair. On that certain part, hairs would fall and form a small round bald spot.
It started when he would travel almost daily, and at night during the land travel he cannot sleep well on the bus. The lack of sleep and the stress are the causes of it. He would have the patch injected by a dermatologist and within 2 months the hair would grow back until it completely covers the bald spot.
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