Alopecia: Jada Pinkett Smith recently grasp headlines when his husband Will Smith smacked Chris Rock for mocking her medical condition.
Actor Jada Pinkett Smith recently grasp headlines when his husband Will Smith smacked Chris Rock for mocking her medical condition at an Oscar event during a live event.
Since everyone is opining on whether the Slap was Smith’s overreaction or it was justified, we will not talk about that. Rather, we discuss the seriousness of what Jada is going through.
In this article, we present to you everything about the disease.
What is Alopecia?
It’s likely that you’ve never heard of alopecia. It’s a hair loss disorder that affects over 7 million Americans. The cause of alopecia is unknown, though people with a family history of alopecia are more susceptible to it. It can affect anyone, regardless of age or gender.
Symptoms
Hair loss is the most common sign of alopecia areata. Hair falls out in little spots on the scalp most of the time. These patches are usually a few millimeters or less in size.
Other parts of the face, such as the eyebrows, eyelashes, and beard, as well as other parts of the body, may have hair loss. Some people have hair loss in a few areas. Others have a tendency to lose it in different places on the body.
Hair clumps on your pillow or in the shower may be the first sign. Someone may bring it to your attention if the spots are on the back of your head.
Types
Traction alopecia is a kind of hair loss that is frequent in the Black community and happens when hair is pulled excessively tightly over an extended period of time.
Others lose their hair as a result of their immune system attacking their hair follicles, a condition known as autoimmune alopecia. Discoid lupus erythematosus, which can cause blisters and scars on the face and scalp, can produce autoimmune types of alopecia. Another immune-related disorder that causes scalp scarring and irreversible hair loss is central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA). CCCA affects virtually mainly Black women between the ages of 30 and 55, with research suggesting that up to 15% of these women are affected.
Alopecia areata is another kind of autoimmune alopecia. When people talk of alopecia, they usually mean this form, which affects one out of every 500 to 1,000 persons in the US.
Who can get it?
According to Dr. Lamb, alopecia areata can develop in childhood, adolescence, or maturity. People with the disorder lose their hair in clumps, leaving circular bald areas.
What does it feel like?
If we talk about Jada, she is known for embracing their natural hair, but that wasn’t always true. For a long time, Jada lived in fear of what others thought of her and even contemplated suicide. She struggled with alopecia and was teased relentlessly as a child. Eventually, she even had to tonsure her head due to patches.
Is it treatable?
Although there is no real cure for alopecia areata, there are therapies that one may attempt to slow down future hair loss or speed up hair growth.
Because the situation is difficult to forecast, you may have to go through a lot of trial and error until you find anything that works for you. Even with medication, hair loss might worsen for some people.
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