Alopecia Totalis
If you’re reading this page, you are either researching information on Alopecia Totalis, or you have been diagnosed with it. If you have not seen a doctor, of course we first recommend that you do so. But you have come to one of the only support resources on the internet for people with Alopecia Totalis (AT), and we would like to welcome you.
When we were researching this condition, we most likely ran into the same thing you’ve run into: Not a lot of information. Hundreds of sites which had at most, one sentence on the condition and nothing more. Fortunately we have resources, and we’ve put together as much as we can below.
AT is one of a group of three main conditions. Those three are Alopecia Areata, Alopecia Universalis, and of course Alopecia Totalis. AT is an auto-immune disorder which results in the total loss of hair, but only on the scalp. It is somewhat of an intermediary condition between Alopecia Areata which is patchy scalp hair loss. Alopecia Universalis extends to total body hair loss.
AT usually appears in two types: One being a fairly sudden and complete loss of all head hair. The other being a slower form which originates as Alopecia Areata (patchy loss) and advances to complete scalp hair loss. In this sense it is sometimes tied to Alopecia Areata (patchy loss), but not all the time.
Most sufferers are children and young adults under the age of 40, though it can affect people of all ages. It can also affect the the nails, giving them a ridged, pitted or brittle appearance. According to statistics, 2% of men and 1% of women in western society suffer from some form of Alopecia Areata. About 2% of those have Totalis or Universalis. This means that about 1 in every 125,000 men and 1 in every 250,000 women have AT or Universalis.
This condition comes about as a result of an autoimmune disorder which causes your immune system to attack your hair follicles. In most cases there is small chance of hair recovery, however there have been cases of complete restoration as well. Consider it a genetic auto immune condition that has an unknown trigger, and which can sometimes be “un-triggered” for unknown reasons. They are still researching why hair follicles are the target of the autoimmune activities.
Please use the tabs below to navigate to the next pages of this guide.
View Intro Page
Please use the tabs to proceed to Step 1: Alopecia Totalis Treatments of the Guide to the Alopecia’s.
An overview of the treatments being considered for Alopecia Totalis.
Connect with other groups of Alopecia Totalis sufferers and get support.
