September is Alopecia Awareness Month. Alopecia is a Latin term meaning “hair loss”, however there are four main types of alopecia: Androgenic Alopecia (AGA), Alopecia Areata (AA), Alopecia Totalis (AT), and Alopecia Universalis (AU). This month HPIHair Partners will dive into the differences between these four types of alopecia.
We have sat down and interviewed several women who are on the upside of this condition.
Our second interview was with a female, 55-60 year old, with Alopecia Universalis (AU). AU is a form of alopecia that effects the entire body, those with AU have no hair on their body anywhere.
Interview:
Q: What form of alopecia do you have?
Early in my life I had Alopecia Areata, just a few spots here and there. Then about 5 years ago it turned into Alopecia Universalis.
Q: When did you first start losing your hair?
I was about 11 or 12 years old.
Q: How long after you started losing your hair did you receive a diagnosis?
Pretty soon after, I was about 12 years old.
Q: Tell us about the progression of the hair loss. Was is gradual? Did it happen at an alarming rate? Etc.
I would say it was gradual, up until 5 years ago. It started has small dime to quarter sized patches, they eventually got larger and they happened more often. Then 5 years ago the complete loss happened fast, I lost the hair on the top of my head as well as the rest of my body. I though it was just a severe case, and maybe it would come back but it never did.