Alopecia areata, this is the name of the pathology from which it suffers Jada Pinkett Smith and of which these days, accomplice what happened during the night of the 2022 Oscarswe talk a lot.
An ailment that the actress, Will Smith’s wife, has been suffering from for several years now and of which he had already spoken publicly telling, in 2018, how she had come to terms with the disease and, more recently, how she had come to accept the problem with the radical choice to change her look and shave your hair. Alopecia is indeed one pathology that can have important repercussions on daily lifecreating a strong sense of psychological distress in those who suffer from it.
But what are the causes of this disorder? How widespread is it? And how can it be cured? We talked about it with doctor Valentina Visintini Cividin, plastic surgeon and expert in trichology at the La Madonnina Nursing Home in Milan.
Doctor, what is alopecia areata?
«It is a pathology that sometimes it only involves the scalpentirely or in the form of patches, at other times even beard, eyebrows and all body hair. In this case we speak of universal alopecia. It is a pathology autoimmuneoften associated with forms of thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis and celiac disease: the body’s antibodies attack the hair bulbs, because they consider them a foreign element, which they must destroy. This leads to hair loss “
Is it a very common pathology?
«It is estimated that he suffers from alopecia areata around 2% of the population and that the pathology affects men and women equally ”.
Can it show up at any age? Even in children?
“Yes, alopecia areata it can also affect children. Not only that, the About 40% of cases occur in children under the age of 20. Unfortunately, a negative aspect is that the pathology can recur: that is, even if it was treated and resolved at a young age, it can recur in the course of life “.
How does it manifest itself? Are there any signs that can be interpreted as a wake-up call?
«Alopecia areata unfortunately occurs in a very short time. Sufferers find themselves from day to day a losing hair very quickly and suddenly. This is a factor that scares patients a lot ».
What are the causes?
“It’s a family type pathology so surely there is one genetic predisposition: this means that if a person has close relatives who have had problems with alopecia, they will be at greater risk of suffering from it. However, the evidence also indicates that often at the origin there is an emotional stressthat is what alopecia areata is triggered many times by a traumatic event. For example, I recently took care of a 20-year-old girl who suffered from alopecia areata following the death of her father ».
Source: Vanity Fair
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