Alopecia areata is categorized as a health condition in which a person suffers hair loss at an abnormally high rate from his/her scalp and sometimes from other parts of body too. Such kind of hair loss occurs in form of bald spots spreading throughout the scalp with time, known as Alopecia totalis.

When one faces hair loss from entire body including eyebrows and eyelashes, such stage is called Alopecia universalis. Both genders can become victim of this disease. However, this is not similar to male-pattern baldness. Alopecia areata barbe is a condition in which males lose hair from their beard.

Modern day research shows that Alopecia areata is caused by the result of mutations occurring in our immune system leading to autoimmunity. Actually, the T-cell lymphocytes of the immune system attack the hair follicles and suppress hair growth. Medical examination shows the presence of immune cell inside hair follicles which is not a normal condition.

It is sometimes correlated with other allergic disorders for instance vitiligo, lupus and ulcerative colitis. Studies have shown that presence of this disease in family members prove that this is genetically transferable. Four regions in human genome have been found to contain the Alopecia areata genes confirming that heredity plays a major role for the formation of this disease. 

Normally children, teens and young adults suffer from Alopecia areata. It has also been found to affect older human beings and in some very exceptional cases, toddlers too. However, this condition is not contagious. Moreover, hair loss after pregnancy or due progesterone therapies for birth control is a totally different case.

Alopecia areata is diagnosed by the exclamation point hair. In many cases there are some uncommon hairs which can be seen easily with a hand lens. These hairs appear as exclamation point to human eye as these are broken off hairs on the surface of scalp. In many cases, it is expected that hair will grow within a year without treating the infected area.

The chances that hair will grow again decrease with the increasing time for the presence of this condition. Treatment for this disease includes steroid injections, shampoos (e.g. Nioxin). Topical immunotherapy and irritants are also being used to overcome this condition.  However, no single treatment has been proved to be beneficial which can completely cure this disease.