One Direction star Harry Styles is turning his much-anticipated new haircut into something of a three-act opera – and it’s all working wonders for the British charity set to benefit from the donation of his locks.

Shortly after Styles posted a picture on Instagram of his chopped hair bundled up in a ponytail alongside the hashtag #LittlePrincessTrust, the founder of the trust was invited onto ITV’s This Morning show to discuss with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby exactly what was going on. The Trust is one of the country’s best-loved charities, having provided thousands of real-hair wigs to children with hair loss.

Welcome boost

Interest in the charity has surged since the One Direction singer first pledged to donate his hair back in December, and the frenzy over Styles’ Instagram posting is sure to give the charity’s #HairToSpare hashtag a welcome boost. Launched in January 2016, it is the charity’s first social media campaign and is designed to encourage those with “hair to spare” to donate their locks so that it can be turned into a wig for a child who has lost their own to cancer drugs or as a result of the autoimmune disorder Alopecia Areata.

The three-minute TV segment on This Morning, which you can watch here, saw the Little Princess Trust founder Wendy Tarplee-Morris explain that Styles’ involvement had all come as a bit of a surprise.

“A little while back his management team contacted the charity and said that Harry had expressed an interest in supporting us so we gave them some details and left it, thinking that if anything were to happen they’d come back to us,” she said. “Then on Friday (the day of Styles’ Instagram posting) it all happened.”

Chemotherapy led to hair loss

Ms Tarplee-Morris went on to explain how the charity began after the sad death of her daughter Hannah who passed away when she was five.

“Before she passed away she had some chemotherapy treatment and lost her hair and it was an area we thought there was very little importance placed on and very little help available,” she told the presenters. After Hannah died, the family – with the help of Hannah’s school and some friends – bought a wig for somebody and “from there things have snowballed.”

Ms Tarplee-Morris went on to explain that donated hair needs to be at least seven inches long, although 12 inches or more was even better. She also said that hair needs to be clean, dry and dispatched in a pony tail or, ideally, a plait. As the segment was coming to an end Schofield asked if Harry Styles’ hair had actually arrived yet; Ms Tarplee Morris replied that, “it hasn’t arrived yet; there are plans in place to get it to us safely.”

At the time of writing, Styles’ new look had just been revealed – albeit courtesy of a couple of grainy fan shots taken on the set of new movie Dunkirk, in which he is starring. Social media is poised for the inevitable meltdown.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

A NASDAQ-listed American biopharmaceutical company has announced plans to investigate a modified analog of the bone marrow cancer drug Ruxolitinib as a treatment for the autoimmune disorder Alopecia Areata, which manifests itself as sudden, patchy hair loss.

The company, Concert Pharmaceuticals of Lexington, Massachusetts, says that its focus will be a deuterium-modified analog of Ruxolitinib named CTP-543, and that it expects to begin Phase 1 clinical evaluation of it this year, with a full study into its efficacy in 2017.

Announcing its plans to the media, Concert states that: “CTP-543 is a deuterium-modified analog of ruxolitinib, which selectively inhibits Janus kinases 1 and 2, known as JAK1 and JAK2. Ruxolitinib is commercially available under the name Jakafi in the United States for the treatment of myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera… it has been used to treat alopecia areata in academic settings, including an investigator-sponsored clinical trial, and has been shown to promote hair growth in individuals with moderate to severe disease. Preclinical studies conducted by the Company demonstrated that CTP-543 retains ruxolitinib’s selective JAK 1/2 inhibition profile and shows improved metabolic stability.”

JAK inhibitors for autoimmune alopecia

The potential of Janus Kinase inhibitors, or ‘JAK inhibitors‘ as a possible treatment for Alopecia Areata and other hair loss conditions was discovered almost by accident. In several different incidents, patients being treated with a drug belonging to this group showed hair growth during treatment for something else. Among them was a boy in Israel being treated for concomitant CANDLE syndrome: he also had Alopecia Areata and his doctors were stunned when his treatment with the cancer medication Baricitinib (containing the JAK inhibitor tofacitinib) led to hair regrowth.

Similarly, Xeljanz (Tofacitinib Citrate) led to particularly impressive hair growth on a patient with both plaque psoriasis and the extreme hair loss condition Alopecia Universalis – both of which are autoimmune disorders. His medical team at Yale University correctly postulated that they could treat both conditions with Tofacitinib Citrate, which is approved in the US to treat an entirely different autoimmune disease – rheumatoid arthritis.

Because of these and other findings, multiple scientific teams are now investigating how best to exploit the hair-growing capabilities of JAK inhibitor drugs. Their goal is to find something with a high success rate that works quickly, is permanent, and comes with as few and as minor side effects as possible. At present, the side-effects of some of these drugs is a cause for concern, and would likely put off some potential users. Tofacitinib, for example, suppresses the immune system – which means that the body is less resistant to opportunistic infections, meaning some cancers could be more likely to develop in the long term.

Hope for adults with severe alopecia areata

These and other problems are likely to be investigated rigorously in the coming years, and the chances of a JAK inhibitor based treatment for Alopecia Areata eventually making it to market appear strong. Those with other forms of hair loss, most notably Male Pattern Baldness and Female Pattern Hair Loss, may also benefit: Aclaris Therapeutics in the US recently announced a “strong commitment” to exploring JAK inhibitors as a future treatment for both Alopecia Areata and genetic hair loss, too.

“CTP-543 is a prime example of the application of our deuterium platform to create proprietary new medicines which enhance and extend the utility of known molecules into new therapeutic areas,” says Roger Tung Ph.D, President and CEO of Concert Pharmaceuticals. “We believe we have developed a valuable, potentially first-in-class new drug candidate.”

What all of the various research teams are hoping for is something that will raise the bar in terms of what they can offer to people, especially those with severe forms of Alopecia Areata. Although there are various convincing Alopecia Areata treatment options for adults with mild to moderate patchy hair loss, for those whose scalp is left completely bald due to Alopecia Totalis or Alopecia Universalis there are no truly effective treatment methods currently available. As such, the news of these potential breakthroughs is being closely monitored by the Alopecia community.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

When people start losing their hair to the autoimmune disorder Alopecia Areata, which manifests itself as sudden, patchy hair loss, panic frequently sets in during the search for answers. While professional hair loss treatments can certainly help, people look for additional reassurance and remedies anywhere they can find them. And diet frequently crops up on the list of things they can address if they want to maximise their chances of recovery.

Anecdotal evidence

There is lots of anecdotal evidence that switching to a gluten-free diet in particular can help alleviate the symptoms of Alopecia Areata, which is a not-uncommon condition that can affect up to two per cent of the population during their lifetime. The theory behind why this may work is pretty straightforward: people who suffer from coeliac disease avoid gluten because it leads to inflammation in their small intestine; as coeliac disease is also classified as an autoimmune disorder like Alopecia Areata (which leads to inflammation of the hair follicles), it has been suggested that an intolerance to gluten may be play havoc with the scalp as well as the stomach.

But perhaps there’s something that people have been missing? Could it be that zinc, which is also considered to have a positive effect on people with Alopecia Areata, is playing a part?

According to the Vegetarian Society, zinc may not properly be absorbed in the body when someone’s diet is high in cereals. As cereals are also high in gluten, could it be that what a gluten-free diet is actually doing is allowing the body to properly absorb zinc – and enabling people with Alopecia Areata to benefit from the mineral’s restorative properties?

Leonora Doclis, senior hair loss specialist at Belgravia, thinks there could be a link. “Zinc indeed helps the immune system so, if a gluten-free diet enhances the absorption of this mineral, then it can only be good. That said, just going on a gluten-free diet may not necessarily stop the autoimmune attack. A change in diet can sometimes be beneficial as it can help switch off the autoimmune attack, however, if there is no real benefit within a few months then it is best to revert to a normal varied and balanced diet.”

Click to View Belgravia’s Alopecia Areata Treatment Success Stories

Distinct grey area

What is certain is that it would be good to know once and for all if ditching gluten can help people recover from or even avoid Alopecia Areata, as it continues to be a very distinct grey area in terms of medical knowledge. Whereas some people are convinced that getting rid of gluten is a sure-fire way of maintaining a good head of hair (the onset of genetic hair loss conditions like Male Pattern Baldness and Female Pattern Hair Loss notwithstanding), others get rather cross about the notion.

Part of the reason that there is such a lack of clarity surrounding triggers and causes of alopecia areata is that, despite the autoimmune condition being extremely common, there is still very little known about its mechanics. Researchers across the world are still investigating what causes the body to mistakenly attack its own hair follicles in order to provide new treatment options, particularly for the more aggressive conditions Alopecia Totalis and Alopecia Universalis for which there are no truly effective remedies at present.

Although at Belgravia we have seen significant regrowth in Alopecia Areata clients using recommended high strength minoxidil products recommended by their hair loss specialist nurse following consultation, if there were other lifestyle elements that could help to boost hair growth this is undoubtedly something patients would be interested in.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

In an open letter posted to Facebook, American actor Joseph Gatt has opened up about how his professional career has in many ways been shaped by his hair loss.

The star of Thor and Star Trek: Into Darkness – who is also about to join the cast of the hit zombie TV series Z Nation – writes that he first started losing his hair when he was 11.

Joseph Gatt in Stan Lee’s Lucky Man

Autoimmune disorder

“As most of you know,” he begins, “I have Alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that causes the body to attack its own hair follicles, thus preventing hair growth. It doesn’t affect the body in any other way and is not contagious.”

The actor goes on to explain that all of his hair fell out by the time he was 14, and that he has been “pretty much the same ever since.” He adds that the early years of his hair loss were, predictably, very tough, with teasing, bullying, ignorant comments, discrimination and judgements.

“I didn’t see a way forward. I didn’t leave the house. If I did it was always with a cap on,” he writes. Worse still the actor says that all but one of his friends deserted him because few people understood what Alopecia Areata was back then.

To be more precise, the actor has Alopecia Universalis, which causes total hair loss from all of the head and body (its more common sister condition Alopecia Areata usually causes patchy hair loss of the scalp only). Even now, Alopecia Universalis is not well understood and is extremely difficult to treat – which perhaps explains how doctors around the world are looking at cancer drugs as a possible treatment option.

“Doctors experimented on me by injecting me with all kinds of things and rubbing all manner of expensive stuff into my scalp,” writes Gatt. “Once I was treated as a lab rat while a doctor examined me and injected me in front of hundreds of medical students.”

Gatt says that his Alopecia forced him make a choice: to give up and end his life or to reinvent himself, to use his hair loss as a reason “to create a better me” that he and others could love.

He says that the fact that he is still here today is proof that he chose the latter. He went to drama school, started going to the gym and the rest is history. “I feel blessed to have Alopecia,” he says. “Without it I would not have been forced to make those difficult decisions and fight those battles that have brought me to the blessed life I currently have. Without Alopecia, ironically, I probably would not be living my dream as a successful actor.”

Joseph Gatt and Anthony Carrigan at Disneyland Supporting the Children’s Alopecia Programme

Children living with hair loss

In the moving Facebook post – which has attracted hundreds of ‘loves’ and ‘likes’ – Gatt also writes about his involvement with the American hair loss organisation The Children’s Alopecia Programme (CAP), whose stated goal is to help any child in need who is living with hair loss due to all forms of Alopecia. “What CAP do for these kids is something I would’ve killed for when I was a kid,” says Gatt. “The kids feel loved and special and like they’re allowed to be regular kids, without concerning themselves with the stigma of their condition.”

It was his friend Anthony Carrigan, star of the hit Batman prequel TV series Gotham, who introduced Gatt to CAP and the two have now helped out at various events designed to give children with hair loss a great day out.

Both Gatt and Carrigan are wonderful role models for children, and living proof that hair loss doesn’t mean that you have to shy away from people or, indeed, from the public eye.

While children should always be referred to their GP at any signs of hair loss, adults are more prone to a number of hair loss conditions but for anyone over the age of 16, help, treatment recommendations and support from specialists is readily available following a free trichocheck either in person or online.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

Delaney’s patch of hair loss photographed in February 2016

People often get confused about different types of hair loss, occasionally mixing up the genetic condition Male Pattern Baldness with the autoimmune disorder Alopecia Areata.

The latter condition really couldn’t be more different – as Crystal Palace centre back Damien Delaney seemed to be demonstrating during this weekend’s FA Cup Final.

Evidence of Alopecia Areata?

Unless the hard-working 34-year-old has shaved a tiny bald spot onto the back of his head, pictures seen on social media and live match coverage over the past few months clearly seem to show evidence of Alopecia Areata.

Unlike male pattern hair loss, which affects millions of men and is seen as a gradual, general thinning (often leading to baldness) around the top of the head, particularly at the crown and temples, Alopecia Areata more typically affects specific patches anywhere on the head.

While Delaney’s bald spot is indeed on the back of his head – not too far from where MPB can strike – its clearly-defined nature and location rule it out as Male Pattern Baldness.

But if Delaney’s bald patch is indeed Alopecia Areata, what caused it? To speculate about that, it first makes sense to understand a little more about the condition…

Alopecia Areata happens when the body’s immune system mistakenly perceives healthy cells in the scalp as ‘enemy’ cells and starts attacking them. The hair growth cycle then effectively suspends activity, lying dormant until it believes it is safe to resume normal hair production.

In some cases the hair loss – which comes on suddenly – can be as small as a single, coin-sized patch; in others it can be bigger patches spread over the whole head. In many cases it will clear up on its own, never to reappear, in others it can be a troublesome condition that comes and goes multiple times. When the hair does regrow, it may also return without any pigment so that the hair appears white or cream in colour. The normal hair colour tends to restore itself naturally within a few hair growth cycles.

Most vexing of all is the question: why me? Alopecia Areata is still something of an enigma with researchers constantly trying to get to the bottom of why it happens, the precise cause remains unknown. Doctors do, however, believe that there is at least one underlying issue behind all cases of this autoimmune disorder.

View Belgravia’s Alopecia Areata Treatment Success Stories

Suspected triggers

There is quite a long list of suspected triggers for Alopecia Areata, including physical trauma, local skin injury, allergies and hormones. Commonly blamed, however, is psychological long-term stress, and it certainly wouldn’t be unkind or unrealistic to suggest that Delaney’s career has been a challenging one.

In a pre-Cup interview with the Guardian, Delaney spoke of his struggles as a professional player, the low-point of his career being the time he walked away from four mostly gloomy years at Queen’s Park Rangers and Ipswich Town in 2012.

“I just lost faith,” he told the Guardian. “I told myself it would change eventually but each time a new manager came in at any of the clubs he was worse than the last one. It was just going nowhere.”

The article describes a tough player who has had a less than easy stint in professional football, and the stress of finally making it to the FA Cup Final can only have piled on the pressure.

The good news is that Alopecia Areata can be treated, and the prognosis is especially good when it affects such a small area, as appears to be the case with Delaney. At Belgravia we have seen many clients with similar bald patches experience encouraging – and often full – regrowth from using recommended formulations of high strength minoxidil which is applied directly to the affected area daily.

As well as the correct medication, addressing lifestyle issues – such as stress, diet and even smoking and drinking – can all help the body achieve a healthy balance, which is something the hair loss specialists at Belgravia discuss with clients during their private consultations.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

For some years now there has been a suggestion that people with the autoimmune disorder Alopecia Areata – which leads to sudden, patchy hair loss – are more susceptible to strokes. The theory has roots in a study that took place in Taiwan between 2004 and 2011.

Now, however, the link between Alopecia Areata and strokes has been cast into doubt after a new study suggests the exact opposite: namely that people with Alopecia Areata actually have a decreased risk of having one.

The new findings stem from a retrospective analysis carried out in Boston at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the city’s Massachussets General Hospital on patients who had Alopecia Areata between 2000 and 2010.

10-year study

According to the website Healio, 1,377 patients with Alopecia Areata were assessed during the 10 year study, alongside 4,131 ‘control’ patients who did not have the autoimmune disorder. Researchers state that patients with Alopecea Areata had decreased odds for developing stroke and also a trend toward decreased risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, the reduced rate was not deemed to be statistically significant.

Even so, the results seem baffling when compared to those of the Taiwanese study, which involved 3,231 people with Alopecia Areata or one if its more severe sister conditions Alopecia Universalis and Alopecia Totalis. In that study, people who had lost hair to one of these conditions were almost twice as likely to have a stroke as the 16,000-strong control group.

The Healio article quotes the Boston team as saying: “It is unclear why Alopecia Areata would be protective for developing stroke. Recent studies have found some improvement of Alopecia Areata with simvastatin/ezetimibe. Statins have been shown to have some effect on immune response as it has recently been shown to decrease vaccine effectiveness against medically attended acute respiratory illness.”

Click to View this Belgravia Client’s Alopecia Areata Treatment Success Story

Bad cholesterol

Statins, of course, are widely used to lower the levels of “bad cholesterol” in the blood, and can help prevent strokes. What the American authors appear to be saying is that Alopecia Areata patients may have been using statins as part of their treatment and this may have had the knock-on effect of lowering their chances of stroke. Confusingly, however, retired family doctor and former NASA Astronaut Surgeon Duane Graveline MD MPH has publicly stated that “Statin drugs contribute to human hair loss”.

Alopecia Areata is nothing if not a vexing condition, striking without warning and causing huge amounts of stress and anxiety to those it effects. While it sometimes clears up on its own – going on to disappear without a trace as if nothing ever happened – it can just as easily spread from a single patch to many, with multiple reoccurrences.

For that reason, many people with Alopecia Areata choose to seek out expert help as soon as possible, using bespoke Alopecia Areata treatment plans to help regrow their hair. Personalised courses featuring high strength minoxidil formulations from the range available at our in-clinic pharmacies have proven effective in treating Belgravia’s Alopecia Areata clients on many occasions, as can be seen in our extensive collection of Success Stories.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

The news this month that pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has bought a company named Anacor Pharmaceuticals could prove important for people with autoimmune-related hair loss.

Pfizer’s $5.2bn purchase of the ‘smaller’ company means that the multinational now has access to one of the most interesting new products in development for the treatment of eczema. And as eczema is an autoimmune condition – like Alopecia Areata, which leads to patchy hair loss – the likelihood of the pharma giant wanting to test the products out on people with other autoimmune conditions is high.

Closely linked

This is because autoimmune disorders are often closely linked – with the result that a product developed to treat one autoimmune disorder often works well on another. Furthermore, drugs in general have an uncanny way of working wonders on conditions they were never created for.

A perfect example is the various prescription JAK inhibitor products on the market – designed to treat everything from bone cancer to rheumatoid arthritis – which are showing promise at regrowing hair lost to Alopecia Areata and its more extreme iterations Alopecia Totalis and Alopecia Universalis which cause complete baldness of the head and entire body respectively. They have also been mentioned as a possible future treatment option for people with the genetic hair loss conditions Male Pattern Baldness and Female Pattern Hair Loss.

The Pfizer deal puts the pharma giants in control of a product named Crisaborole, a steroid-free topical ointment which is said to have proved highly effective in trials at treating people with eczema. It is currently being reviewed by US regulators.

View Belgravia’s Alopecia Areata Treatment Success Stories

Writing about the Pfizer deal, Reuters news agency also highlighted a company named Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, whose injectable eczema therapy named Dupilumab, which is expected to go on sale this year, also “greatly reduced eczema symptoms in late-stage trials.” Reuters state that the two medicines could eventually see global sales of over $9bn.

It is thought that Dupilumab will be better suited to patients with more advanced eczema, whereas Crisaborole works well on people with a more moderate complaint.

Autoimmune response

Crisaborole targets and inhibits IL-12, IL-23 and a number of cytokines involved in the autoimmune response for eczema. Dupilumab, meanwhile, is designed to be a treatment for atopic conditions and its antibody is able to bind to and modify the IL-13 pathway, among others.

Previous studies have linked IL-13 to Alopecia Areata, so the results of these drugs’ clinical trials could be the starting point for further development of a potential Alopecia Areata treatment. Currently many dermatologists use steroid creams to treat both conditions despite the side-effects and pretty low success rates for the mild version of the condition.

Belgravia clients with Alopecia Areata have often experienced significant, and even in many cases total, regrowth results through using personally recommended high strength minoxidil preparations from the range offered at our hair loss clinics. This topical treatment is applied only where needed and can be combined with various boosters for a comprehensive course of Alopecia Areata treatment.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

A promising young midfielder who plays in the Scottish Championship surprised supporters last week when he arrived on the pitch sporting a newly-shaved head. Falkirk’s Craig Sibbald, who has Alopecia Areata, figured it was the best way to deal with his hair loss.

According to Scottish newspaper The Daily Record, the player – who is just 21 – first started losing his hair to the autoimmune disorder when he was a child. “I had it [Alopecia Areata] when I was younger, but it’s come back,” he told the newspaper. “I had a chest infection and that might have triggered it – I don’t know but hopefully it doesn’t stay too long. When I had it as a kid, my hair eventually all grew back.”

Confusing condition

What Sibbald describes is a fairly typical experience of Alopecia Areata, a confusing condition that typically strikes without warning. It usually manifests itself as patchy hair loss that appears suddenly, and in some cases hair will regrow of its own accord in a few months – sometimes without any reoccurrence. In other cases, however, it can linger, spread and keep coming back for years or even decades.

Because it can be so confusing and distressing, a number of support organisations around the world have been set up specifically to offer help and counselling to people with the condition.

In the Daily Record article, Sibbald brings up one of the most troubling aspects of Alopecia Areata, a condition that is caused by the body inadvertently attacking healthy cells in the scalp. “I’ve had a bit of stick,” he says, suggesting his hair loss has resulted in a number of negative comments, or at least some dressing room banter. “But when you tell people what’s caused it [the hair loss], they’re quite sympathetic.”

Sympathetic approach

A sympathetic and supportive approach to treatment is at the cornerstone of Belgravia’s work; clients are not only properly diagnosed and brought up-to-speed concerning the medically-proven alopecia areata treatments that are available, but they are guided through their recommended treatment options by a dedicated hair loss professional. Many clients say that this is a very important part of their treatment, and infinitely preferable to “going it alone”.

Belgravia’s experts formulate personalised plans around preparations of the key, topical treatment high strength minoxidil from the range available at our in-clinic pharmacies. This method has produced many significant Alopecia Areata Treatment Success Stories with clients achieving encouraging, and often complete, regrowth.

Alopecia Areata can affect up to two per cent of people in their lifetime, and while current treatment has resulted in thousands of success stories, it is also true that these are exciting times in terms of potential new treatments that are currently being tested, particularly for those with the more severe versions of the condition – Alopecia Totalis and Alopecia Universalis – which currently have no reliable treatment options. Among them are treatments that may arise out of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis drugs known as JAK inhibitors.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

Name: Sebastian

Question: Hey, am 21 and i’ve had patches in the middle of my scalp for ages. I can handle that, but lately the patches have began to grow and join up. The hair is thinner or non-existent. Furthermore, I’ve noticed lately that my hairline is beginning to recede way too quickly. The hair at the front is not as thick as it used to be. All of this in like 2 months. It’s begging to stress me out. What can I do? How can I get a consultation?

Answer: Hi, Sebastian. From how you describe your hair loss here there are a number of conditions that may be behind your shedding.

In order to properly diagnose you we would recommend making an appointment for a free trichocheck at one of our central London hair loss clinics, or – if you are based outside London or abroad – completing our Online Consultation form which allows you to upload photos.

It is important that we see precisely the pattern and level of your shedding in order to provide you with an accurate diagnosis of your hair loss condition as ‘patches’ could mean two key conditions which are very different.

Male Pattern Baldness causes the hair to gradually thin in areas on the top of the scalp, leading to – for example – a thinning crown and/or a receding hairline. The hair may also thin along the top causing the receding hairline and thinning crown to join up and creating a larger balding area. This is an hereditary condition and can start any time following puberty; it can also be triggered or made worse by stress.

You mention that the ‘patches’ of hair loss have started to join up and your hairline is receding very quickly over the space of two months which suggests that, if it is male pattern baldness, there is an underlying factor causing your hair thinning to accelerate. As mentioned before this could be due to stress but there are many other factors which can influence hair loss, including illness, imbalances in your diet, or taking new prescription medications for health issues.

Another consideration is that if the patches you mention in the middle of your scalp are smooth and rounded in shape, and appeared suddenly rather than thinning out gradually over time, the hair loss may be caused by the autoimmune disorder Alopecia Areata. This can also be caused by a shock, stress or trauma. Sudden hair fall and round or oval shaped bald patches which sometimes grow and can also join up are typical of this condition which causes a glitch in the hair growth cycle preventing new hair production. This is usually a temporary condition and the hair will often regrow naturally in time, however it can also recur.

There are effective hair loss treatment options available for both conditions and a specialist will be able to recommend a bespoke plan based on your precise diagnosis and needs.

The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

Scientists in the French city of Nice are to increase their efforts into researching a possible link between the IL2 protein and certain conditions that lead to hair loss.

The team at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice have already shown in a prospective pilot study that “low doses of IL2 could be beneficial to severe Alopecia Areata” and say that they saw long-lasting regrowth in four out of the five patients they treated.

Now, they are expanding their efforts into a new, multi-centre, double-blind study to see if they can build upon their results.

Dr Thierry Passeron who is leading the study

Healthy cells attacked

Alopecia Areata, which leads to sudden patchy hair loss, as well as its more severe related conditions Alopecia Totalis and Alopecia Universalis, are considered to be autoimmune disorders, with hair loss arising out of the body’s compulsion to attack healthy cells in the scalp. This is, of course, evidence of a malfunctioning immune response, and as the IL2 protein is an interleukin, a group of cytokines in the blood that play a large part in the body’s immune response, IL2’s use in a possible new treatment is understandable.

The precise nature of how and why IL2 proteins and similar interleukins might help is being explored in several studies.

In an American trial into the use of the interleukin IL13 as a possible treatment for Alopecia Areata, doctors wrote that: “Data shows that IL-13 is significantly unregulated in both atopic dermatitis and Alopecia Areata lesions compared to nonlesional skin. It is very important to associate the clinical responses with suppression of this cytokine and related molecules as well as other pathway cytokines in skin tissues.”

In that test, which is being carried out by the Icahn School of Medicine in New York, the focus is on the use of a drug named tralokinumab, which was developed to treat asthma and other inflammatory diseases.

A great many tests into possible new treatments for Alopecia Areata have roots in existing treatments, as the past few years have proved time and again that many autoimmune disorders are linked. People with Alopecia Areata, for example, have been shown more susceptible to Type 1 Diabetes and Dry Eye Disease.

It is unclear if the French team will be using an existing, commercially available product in their trial or not.

SALT score

What is known is that they are currently in the recruiting stage and that test subjects will include both males and females aged between 18 and 60. All must have been clinically diagnosed with Alopecia Areata. The success of the test will be defined by the patient’s SALT (Severity Of Alopecia Tool) score at the end of the study, which will be 12 months post treatment.

In that time frame a significant portion of people with Alopecia Areata might naturally be presumed to see strong hair regrowth without intervention, as hair does grow back on its own in many cases. The process can certainly be given a helping hand, however, as many Belgravia clients who have taken advantage of a personalised Alopecia Areata treatment course will attest.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

Name: Henrique

Question: I´m 35. I currently have alopecia barbae since March 2015 where the first symptoms came up. The beard patches were small, got bigger in the last year – one of each side of the face/jaw. I can see some very thin blond hair coming if I let my beard grow for 3 days or more. In that case also some white thicker hair or light black thin hair here and there on the affected areas.

An example of Alopecia Areata Barbae

I did cortisone and “rubefacient gel” for 2 months at the beginning, didn’t work. Now trying dandruff shampoo directly and some white iodine and “acetic acid + cloral hidrate” with no very evident results in 1 month. will continue for another month and see. I would at least like to try to stop the spreading of the affected area which was stable for a few months, because I can see some hair coming here and there, although very very few hair and far from perfect.
Will Xeljanz be available in cream or gel? Potentially safe as it is topic usage?

Answer: Hi, Henrique. We cannot treat Alopecia Barbae or any other form of facial hair loss so we recommend you consult your doctor or dermatologist about this. We can tell you that hair may often grow back white or colourless at first following autoimmune hair loss, so it sounds as if you are experiencing regrowth which is encouraging.

If the patches spread to your scalp, we can treat this – Alopecia Areata – however, it is important you take professional advice before using any products on your face to treat the bald patches on your beard.

Xeljanz is currently being tested in clinical trials for Alopecia Totalis and Universalis – the two most severe autoimmune hair loss conditions – as well as Alopecia Areata, in both topical and oral formulations. Whilst it has been used successfully to regrow facial hair, eyebrows and eyelashes in a man who had Alopecia Universalis, during its initial trial, the current information suggests that it has not yet been tested specifically in relation to facial hair loss in any format.

The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

An excellent article in The Pharmaceutical Journal heralds the dawn of new era in the treatment of Alopecia Areata, the much-misunderstood autoimmune disorder that leads to sudden, patchy hair loss.

The article, entitled ‘A Ray of Hope for Alopecia Areata Patients’, takes a long hard look at the work of some of the best-known names in hair loss research, whose recent progress paints a promising picture in terms of future treatments. While Alopecia Areata can currently be treated in its mild to moderate state, success isn’t always guaranteed and there are no reliable treatments for its more severe cousins, Alopecia Totalis and Alopecia Universalis.

One of the most interesting comments in the article comes from an immunologist whose geneticist colleagues had asked him for his opinion on what Alopecia Areata really was. After analysing what they had showed him, “This is just diabetes of the hair follicle,” he said.

Immune privilege affected

The writer of the Pharmaceutical Journal story does a good job of explaining how scientists generally view Alopecia Areata. He says that the “immune privilege” – i.e., exemption from the effects of the immune system – that hair follicles normally enjoy have effectively been switched off in cases of Alopecia Areata. Worse, the follicles send out danger signals which makes the immune system set out to destroy them. During this time the hair growth cycle is paused in the telogen phase.

Ralf Paus, a dermatology researcher at both Manchester and Münster Universities, explains in the article that most treatments don’t work because they fail to address this anomaly: they don’t fix the hair follicle’s immune privilege.

Readers of the Belgravia blog will be familiar with the work of Dr Angela Christiano, pictured, a geneticist from Columbia University in New York, who has herself experienced AA and who has enjoyed spectacular results during clinical trials by treating people with AA with drugs containing JAK inhibitors. The article explains how the “diabetes” comment from her immunologist colleague had been instrumental in opening up a new line of thinking.

“For years,” Dr Christiano is quoted as saying, “people assumed Alopecia was a relative of psoriasis. Most trials just tested existing psoriasis drugs and we we wondered why they didn’t work. We never thought about diabetes or coeliac or rheumatoid arthritis, but that’s the group of autoimmune diseases we clearly align with.”

The studies of Dr Christiano’s team led them to a gene known as ULBP: this gene is unique to Alopecia and, explains the writer in the Pharmaceutical Journal, it “codes for a danger signal expressed by hair follicles in Alopecia.”

This discovery in turn led to Christiano’s team testing JAK inhibitors as a possible treatment. To explain why, it is necessary to quote the article in full: “When the ULBP-encoded surface protein binds to a killer receptor on the T cell it engages an intracellular cascade that destroys the hair follicle dermal sheath cells and forces hair growth out of its cycle. Several of these intracellular pathways go through tyrosine kinases called janus kinases (JAKs), particularly JAKs 1-3. By inhibiting JAKs 1 and 2, as Christiano and colleagues did with the myelofibrosis drugs ruxolitinib, you negate the effect of the danger signal and stop the disease in its tracks.”

Results were little short of spectacular, although the fanfare quickly died down when the Columbia team realised that the hair growth brought on by two JAK inhibitor drugs – ruxolitinib and also tofacitinib – didn’t appear to be permanent. As a result clinical trials are ongoing and are investigating different possible applications of these drugs, including topical formulations such as a ruxolitinib cream.

Not a million miles away in terms of approach is the work of the University Hospital of Nice in France – their testing of low-dose IL-2 (interleukin 2) on people with the more severe forms of Alopecia Areata was also mentioned in the article. Their results in a small-scale test were less dramatic, but still very promising and the hair growth they saw appears to be long-lasting.

Might the future of Alopecia Areata treatment, then, be a unique new product which takes the best parts of both JAK inhibitor drugs and the IL-2 protein to turn the immune privilege of hair follicles back on?

View Belgravia’s Alopecia Areata Treatment Success Stories

Lack of interest from pharmaceutical companies

While the article certainly does hint at a rosier future for people with Alopecia Areata, it also points out that there seems to be a distinct lack of interest in development among the major pharmaceutical companies. It also cautions that new treatments can take many years to perfect, license and get to market.

There is also the issue that at present, JAK inhibitor drugs list increased risk of certain cancers as a very unfortunate side effect.

For adults with Alopecia Areata, there is hope for regrowing their patchy hair loss, in the form of professional hair loss treatment. At Belgravia we have seen many successes from using personalised treatment plans formed around topical applications of high strength minoxidil from a wide range of formulations available at our in-clinic pharmacies. This effective approach has helped many clients to regrow their hair, a few examples of which can be seen in our Alopecia Areata Treatment Success Stories gallery.

Sadly, this treatment will not work on the more severe Totalis or Universalis, or on other autoimmune hair loss conditions, such as Alopecia Barbae which affects men’s facial hair. Anyone with a diagnosis of complete hair loss from their entire head, from head to toe, or patchy facial hair loss, should consult their doctor for further advice.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

Turn on the TV this month and it seems to be the summer of all things French, with the Euro 2016 football tournament in Paris, Bordeaux and beyond gripping many an England fan, while the lavish new series Versailles does the same for fans of bodice-ripping historical dramas.

But did you know that one of the most famous figures to call Versailles home is said to have suffered from an extremely rare hair disorder? Not a hair loss condition as such, but Marie Antoinette (pictured), who was Queen of France from 1774 until her husband was dethroned during the Revolution, is reported to have seen her hair turn white overnight at the height of her family’s troubles.

Today, experts believe that the condition – known, fittingly as Marie Antionette Syndrome – is related to the autoimmune disorder Alopecia Areata, which causes sudden patchy hair loss.

Captured storytellers’ imagination

The idea of hair turning white as a response to something grave peppers the history books, with the JAMA Dermatology website pointing out that it has “captured storytellers’ imagination like few other afflictions.” They say that the hair of Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) allegedly turned white overnight in the Tower of London as he awaited execution, while “more modern accounts refer to the turning white of hair in survivors of bomb attacks during World War II.”

They also cite the more recent case of a 54-year-old woman who had been treated for a single patch of Alopecia Areata. A few weeks later, her whole scalp had turned white. According to reports, there were no “frightful” incidents that preceded the change.

Once again, this all points to the complex and sometimes baffling nature of Alopecia Areata and its related disorders, the most extreme of which is Alopecia Universalis, which leads to total hair loss all over the scalp and body. The medical community is not even 100 per cent united in the belief that Alopecia Areata is an autoimmune disorder, but there is a general agreement that it falls under this category, especially given a number of current clinical trials have had particularly positive regrowth results from exploring treating severe alopecia conditions with drugs for other autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. It is also widely accepted that there are several suspected triggers that bring about its onset, sudden and extreme stress being one of them.

Real life examples

Olympic and Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was famously convincted of shooting dead his partner Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013 in what the ‘blade runner’ has always maintained was an accident. He insists he mistook his girlfriend, who was hiding in their bathroom, for an intruder and shot her through the door.

The 29 year old is currently under house arrest at his South Africa home awaiting sentencing after having his 2014 manslaughter conviction, for which he has served one year in prison, upgraded to culpable homicide.

During the initial trial Pistorius looked to have developed two small round patches of white hair. When he appeared before the judge recently, prior to his July 2016 sentencing, the patches were still clearly visible as can be seen here. These tumultuous years have placed the former sportsman under immense pressure and stress, which it is believed is likely to have led to Alopecia Areata, with the white regrowth following a bout of sudden hair loss.

Socialite and writer Jemima Khan has also talked openly about experiencing patches of hair loss following a traumatic incident whilst flying which, once the hair regrew, came back white.

In cases such as these, whilst the original hair colour often comes back of its own accord within a couple of full hair growth cycles, in some cases the lack of pigmentation is permanent.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

A new entry has just been added to the Male Hair Loss and Alopecia Areata categories in Belgravia’s success story gallery.

Find out what this client had to say and see his regrowth results close up, or find out more about the treatment of Male Pattern Baldness or Alopecia Areata by clicking the buttons below…

VIEW SUCCESS STORY

MALE HAIR LOSS TREATMENT 

ALOPECIA AREATA TREATMENT

The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

It is easy to scoff at the very notion of Chinese medicine, especially when claims of success are so often greeted with a raised eyebrow by western doctors. But a new report into using acupuncture to treat the autoimmune disorder Alopecia Areata, which leads to patchy hair loss, is nothing if not interesting.

According to the website of the Healthcare Medicine Institute, studies in China have shown that acupuncture can be more effective at treating Alopecia Areata than Rogaine – known as Regaine in the UK – which is an over-the-counter minoxidil product approved for the treatment genetic hair loss, and oral vitamin supplements.

Seven-star needle

During tests at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the best results were apparently achieved using a seven-star needle known as the Qi Xing – it was almost 10 per cent more effective than standard individual needle acupuncture. Either method, however, allegedly produced some pretty startling results: when combined with a herbal tea, drunk twice a day, the Shanghai team say that regular acupuncture was deemed to be an effective alternative hair loss treatment for Alopecia Areata in 84.4 per cent of cases. The Qi Xing needle, meanwhile, boasted a 90.9 per cent success rate.

By comparison, the article states that treatment with topical applications of Regaine and oral multivitamins in a separate study had a 60 per cent success rate.

While the results make for pretty captivating reading, it is worth remembering that specialist hair loss clinics are able to tailor bespoke Alopecia Areata treatment courses featuring a range of hair growth boosters in order to treat this autoimmune condition effectively. Belgravia has seen many success stories from using this approach, whereby high strength minoxidil and appropriate boosters are recommended based on each individual’s specific needs, to give people with Alopecia Areata the maximum chance of regrowing hair they have lost.

What would be especially interesting would be the results of a trial that studied the combined, concurrent use of both minoxidil and acupuncture.

Qi Xing Acupuncture Needle

Raise heat in scalp

The Chinese team state that acupuncture works in part because it helps to raise heat in the scalp. In their tests, they selected people with “spleen and stomach damp-heat” because heat and dampness may lead to the obstruction of “meridians” – pathways through the body along which Chinese Medicine practitioners say vital energy flows. Obstructed meridians, say the Chinese team, can lead to the impediment of blood and ‘qi’ or ‘chi’ to the head. In turn, this can lead to Alopecia Areata.

By using the Qi Xing seven-star needle, doctors claim they were able to raise the scalp temperature by 2.62 degrees C, which they interpret as an increase in blood circulation in the scalp. Increased circulation is generally believed to help hair growth.

What is not mentioned in the Chinese report and is very much worth noting, is the fact that autoimmune hair loss can clear up of its own accord, with hair regrowing naturally. With this in mind, perhaps larger-scale trials would give a better picture as to the general regrowth trend for people using acupuncture in comparison to a control group who took no action.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

People with heart problems are frequently prescribed a dizzying cocktail of medications to try and beat their disease and some, say reports, may lead to hair loss.

According to the website of the Monthly Prescribing Reference (MPR), who were reporting on recent changes in the US to guidelines about recommended drug use for people with heart failure (HF), a case in the US found that a 53-year-old male’s sudden hair loss – probably Alopecia Areata, though the article doesn’t say – was attributed by his doctors to his HF drugs.

Alopecia on right temporal side

They say when he was placed on a tailored drugs regime to treat his health condition, all went well for over a year when he suddenly reported “alopecia on his right temporal side.” His doctors deduced that a drug named Lisinopril was the most likely cause of his hair loss, and replaced it with one named losartan.

Six months later, according to the MPR report, the man’s hair loss had been resolved, though the hair had grown back white, instead of his normal, dark colour. Loss of pigmentation when hair grows back like this is quite common in cases of Alopecia Areata, an autoimmune disorder than is known to affect around 2 per cent of the world’s population. It is currently the second most common reason for hair loss after androgenetic alopecia (male and female pattern hair loss), yet there is still very little known about precisely what causes the condition and why it can clear up of its own accord in some people but not in others.

So why would a drug – any drug – lead to hair loss? In cases of Alopecia Areata, chemicals – potentially including some which may be present in prescription medications – are one of many suspected ‘triggers’ that can bring on the condition. Other triggers include psychological long-term stress, physical trauma, viral infections and even allergies. Because of this, it is currently impossible to predict who may be affected by Alopecia Areata at some time in their life – which means that its onset always comes as a complete shock (unless it is recurring and the person is on their second or third episode of hair loss).

View Belgravia’s Alopecia Areata Treatment Success Stories

The body, as any doctor will tell you regardless of your medical condition, can be extremely sensitive to change. In cases of Alopecia Areata, hair falls out because the body has wrongly perceived healthy cells in the scalp to be ‘invaders’ and launches an attack.

Biological change can lead to hair loss

This extreme biological reaction to change lies behind other hair loss conditions, too, such as Telogen Effluvium, which leads to more of an all-over thinning as opposed to the patchy hair loss seen in cases of Alopecia Areata.

Both of these conditions can, thankfully, be treated at a specialist hair loss clinic.

Belgravia has had many successes in treating Alopecia Areata with a bespoke programme featuring individually recommended formulations of high strength minoxidil. The client-appropriate preparation is applied directly to the areas where the hair has fallen out and helps to accelerate the regrowth process.

In many cases, what specialists are doing is giving the body’s natural inclination to regrow the lost hair a helping hand. Hair doesn’t regrow by itself in every case, however, which is why it makes sense to get a proper diagnosis as soon as you begin to notice excessive shedding – whether it comes on gradually or thins over time – so that you can make an informed choice about your treatment options.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

While scarring alopecia is a relatively rare form of hair loss compared to the genetic condition Male Pattern Baldness – which affects the majority of men by retirement age – it is nonetheless the scourge of some individuals’ lives and can lead to deep psychological issues should their self-esteem dip as a result. Good news, then, that new options are starting to become available to help people with this type of hair loss.

Click to View Belgravia’s Follicular Degeneration Syndrome Treatment Success Stories

What is scarring alopecia?

Scarring or cicatricial alopecia is one of the most severe forms of hair loss as it effects the very fibre of the scalp and, in the majority of cases, makes regrowth physically impossible. The shedding can occur anywhere on the scalp, in large, small or patchy areas, and is caused by inflammation damaging or destroying hair follicles. It can be brought on by some illnesses, including Lupus, as well as from burns or radiation.

Cicatricial alopecia is actually a term which encompasses a number of hair loss conditions which are almost always permanent, with the exception of Follicular Degeneration Syndrome (FDS) and Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia (CCCA), which if caught early enough may be treated. Once the follicles die and the skin takes on a ‘shiny’ appearance as scar tissue forms over them, treatments which are based on stimulating the follicles back into producing regrowth, have nothing to work with.

For those who cannot be helped by pharmaceutical treatments, in some cases a hair transplant may be effective although this route is not always recommended so highly specialised surgeons tend to advise on a case by case basis. This leaves those affected with the choice of either accepting and learning to live with their hair loss, or trying to disguise it.

Cosmetic methods of concealment

Though no one has yet been able to create a miracle cure for the condition, or even an effective method of on-going treatment for scarring alopecia that would lead to permanent regrowth, several companies are working on cosmetic methods of concealing the hair loss. And some of the most remarkable developments are coming from the labs of a company called Cesare Ragazzi in Italy, who are using 3D printing in their search for answers.

Making wigs at Cesare Ragazzi

As previously reported, Ragazzi Laboratories are pioneers in creating 3D casts of the heads of people with hair loss and then creating a very modern wig exclusively for the client.

Impressive results have already been seen on people with severe balding, such as that caused by the autoimmune disorder Alopecia Universalis; now the company has explained at a major International Alopecia Conference in New Orleans how its products have helped a patient with Scarring Alopecia.

At the conference, a patient with Scarring Alopecia whose name was given only as “Ivory”, said: “Cicatricial Alopecia affected my self-confidence and has been self-limiting for me. I refused to see a new hair stylist, as I was afraid they would be shocked or ask numerous questions. I was afraid and ashamed to seek help. I also avoided activities, such as swimming or simply riding in a convertible. Now, my results are permanent and I feel 100% more confident.”

By ‘permanent’, she means that her hairpiece has been non-surgically grafted onto her scalp. Non-surgically basically implies that a type of strong, waterproof adhesive is used.

Boosting profile

3D news site 3ders.com says that Ragazzi has been given a significant profile boost by partnering with Florida-based hair prosthesis specialist Dr Alan J. Bauman, who has treated more than 17,000 patients during the past 18 years. He, in turn, has recently teamed up with the Cicatricial Alopecia Research Foundation (CARF) to help raise awareness about the condition.

Ultra-modern wigs and their adhesives can certainly be impressive, and in cases of extreme hair loss are sometimes the only solution. They do, however, come with a fairly hefty price tag in the thousands of dollars.

A free consultation at a recognised hair loss clinic is always the best place to begin if you are showing signs of hair loss, as many conditions can be successfully treated with a bespoke hair loss treatment course, particularly if they are caught early enough. Even though it is a form of scarring alopecia, Belgravia’s personalised treatment for FDS has produced many successful results – like those seen above – with clients experiencing significant regrowth from their functioning follicles.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

The women of TV’s hugely successful Real Housewives franchise in both the UK and the USA are as well known for their glamorous appearance as they are for their on-screen dramas. Hair plays a huge part in how these women present themselves to the world, with many owning or being the face of hair extensions brands and hair care lines.

Recently, as Real Housewives of New York mainstay Ramona Singer announced she was the latest to turn to extensions to give her extra length and volume (despite their known association with causing hair loss), her co-star, Jules Wainstein revealed that she was in fact having the opposite experience. Parting her hair, Jules exposed a coin-sized patch of hair loss, saying “”I have a hole in my head.. I have two… it’s a new one – it wasn’t there yesterday.”

Recurring hair loss

Explaining that she currently had two of these bald patches, Jules noted that she has the autoimmune condition Alopecia Areata and that it comes and goes. She also wanted to point out that, having spoken openly about her long-running battle with eating disorders, this hair loss was not related to her diet.

“I have Alopecia Areata. It’s hair loss the size of a dime or a quarter, it’s not a nutrition thing, it’s more of a stress thing. And I’m not surprised to see that I have another episode of it now because I’ve been going through a lot,” the 35 year old mother of two young children said.

Alopecia areata presents as patchy hair loss, which can be in a single or in multiple rounded or oval spots – small or large, or a mixture of both, anywhere on the scalp. In contrast to genetic conditions such as Female Pattern Hair Loss where the hair thins gradually over time, with alopecia areata the hair fall is sudden.

In the majority of cases the hair will regrow naturally, however it can – as in Jules’ case – recur at a later date. In less fortunate circumstances the condition may also progress to one of the two more severe forms of alopecia – Alopecia Totalis or Alopecia Universalis. These cause complete hair loss from the whole scalp or from head to toe, respectively and their treatment options have very low success rates.

Click to View Belgravia’s Alopecia Areata Treatment Success Stories Gallery

Triggered by stress

Given Wainstein has had to cope with her father being seriously ill with pneumonia, filming the reality show and launching her own business in the past few months, all whilst going through an acrimonious divorce, it’s unsurprising she believes her hair loss is stress-related.

Although little is known about the biomechanisms of alopecia areata, such as what precisely causes it, there are a range of triggers understood to bring on the condition with stress and sudden shock or trauma being some of the most common.

Whilst no cure has yet been developed, there are effective Alopecia Areata treatment courses available which can help to accelerate the regrowth process in mild to moderate cases.

At Belgravia our hair loss specialist nurses recommend appropriate high strength minoxidil formulations for each individual client, available from the centre’s in-clinic pharmacies, and combines this topical treatment with a range of hair growth boosters for maximum effect.

The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

A leading dermatologist at Yale University has announced plans to trial a topical version of the rheumatoid arthritis drug Tofacitinib on people with autoimmune-related hair loss caused by forms of Alopecia Areata.

Tofacitinib belongs to a group of groundbreaking drugs known as JAK inhibitors, which were developed to tackle a variety of conditions including certain cancers but which have also shown success at treating people with Alopecia Areata. The new Yale study, led by assistant professor Dr Brett King, will specifically be looking at the efficacy of a new cream made with tofacitinib and applied directly to the scalp.

Plans to recruit 10 people

His plan is to recruit 10 people with at least two patches of hair loss that has been caused by Alopecia Areata, and treat them with tofacitinib ointment for no longer than six months. They will be assessed every four weeks to check for progress, and before and after the test a lab evaluation will be performed to check for adverse effects of the treatment.

Dr King hasn’t yet given a date for his trial to start, but recruitment looks to be imminent if he is to meet his estimated completion date of next summer.

Dr King is fast becoming a leading name in the use of JAK inhibitors on people with Alopecia Areata: he has already reported a successful single-person test after using a different JAK inhibitor applied topically. Last year, he and his team used a cream based on a drug named ruxolitinib on a 17-year-old female with an extreme form of Alopecia Areata named Alopecia Totalis.

At the time, they stated that the patient applied the cream twice a day to her scalp and eyebrows (Alopecia Totalis leads to total hair loss all over the head) and after 12 weeks she had “complete restoration of eyebrows and partial regrowth of her scalp.”

The patient then switched from the topical lotion to the pill form of the drug to continue her treatment and is said to have gone on to grow a full head of hair.

He and his team also made the initial discovery regarding tofacitinib (brand name: Xeljanz) as a potential treatment for alopecia areata after successfully using it to regrow scalp, face and body hair in a man with Alopecia Universalis – the most severe iteration of the condition which causes complete hair loss from head to toe.

View Belgravia’s Alopecia Areata Treatment Success Stories

Welcome addition

It would certainly be true to suggest that hair loss experts are watching the work of Dr King and others keenly, as the results they appear to have been achieving with patients seem promising. Assuming JAK inhibitors do prove effective long-term and one day get regulatory clearance for use against alopecia, particularly the more severe forms where treatment is currently largely considered to be ineffective.

History has proven on countless times, however, that the path to market is not an easy one for new medications, and there are many obstacles that will need to be overcome before JAK inhibitors become a widely available option for Alopecia Areata treatment. Concern that some of the drugs may increase the chances of cancer are the most serious among them.

Should these new drugs pass the necessary safety and efficacy tests they could give hope not only to those with Alopecia Totalis and Universalis, but also become a welcome addition to the alopecia areata treatment courses currently available to men and women with the mild-to-moderate form of the condition when it affects the scalp only.

Belgravia has seen many instances of alopecia areata clients achieving successful regrowth from following bespoke treatment courses built around appropriate formulations of high strength minoxidil. These types of specialist regrowth programmes are available now to over 16s and are personalised to each individual’s precise needs following consultation with a hair loss specialist nurse.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.

Ask the parent of any child who has lost hair to the autoimmune disorder Alopecia Areata if it has made life difficult and you will hear a resounding ‘yes’ almost every time. Bullying, confusion about feeling different, worry about the uncertainty of the condition and endlessly being asked if the child has cancer due to their hair loss all take their toll.

Hair loss in children is irrefutably cruel. But little glimmers of light can frequently be found – the kindness of the UK-based charity the Little Princess Trust, for example, who make real-hair wigs for children who have lost their own. Now young kids with hair loss who are fans of the wildly popular American Girl range of dolls have something to smile about, too.

Mia Bailey unwrapping her”Number One Christmas Present” – a bald American Girl doll

Severe hair loss

A story picked up by the Today Parents website in the US explains how young Mia Bailey, from Boston, first lost her hair to Alopecia Areata when she was four. While the condition most often leads to patchy hair loss, in Mia’s case it has led to more severe hair loss of a type more often seen in Alopecia Areata’s related, rarer conditions Alopecia Totalis and Alopecia Universalis.

Mia’s story took on a happier turn last Christmas, when her mother, Meredith, was able to get her daughter a hairless American Girl doll which Mia opened with delight on Christmas morning.

“It was her number one Christmas present,” Meredith told Today Parents. “I knew she wanted the doll, but I didn’t realise the happiness it would bring. I can’t put it into words — she had a doll that was just like her — it was a piece of her.”

When Mia asked if other children would buy dolls without hair, her mother said that they would likely prove popular with other children who had lost their hair, and maybe their friends, too. So far so good, but when Mia asked why they had to be specially-ordered rather than being on the racks in American Girl stores, her mother was stumped.

A short time later, on a visit to their local American Girl store, the family was stunned – and thrilled – to see that the bald dolls were now on display. “We both yelled with excitement,” Meredith told Today Parents. “Mia sat her doll right there with the other doll and beamed.”

The article quotes American Girl’s senior PR manager Stephanie Spanos who says that the company is committed to creating dolls that girls in various circumstances can really connect with. “We know that when a girl owns a doll that is a reflection of her, it provides a sense of connection and belonging. It’s a responsibility we take very seriously,” she says.

Mia in the American Girl store with her doll wearing a matching cap; Bald dolls from the American Girl range

Dolls for all kinds of girls

It is not the first time American Girl has come to Belgravia’s attention – the doll makers caught our attention in 2013 after they first launched a range of dolls that represented all kinds of young girls. As well as a doll with no hair, they also make dolls in wheelchairs as well as dolls with hearing aids, helping to normalise and promote an understanding of these types of issues from childhood. Said their spokeswoman at the time: “By creating a doll without hair or with a hearing aid, we’re just providing more options for a girl to create a doll that’s as unique as she is.”

Recognising the desire of young girls to have a doll they they can really connect with, Mattel have also done several limited-edition runs of bald Barbie dolls. These ‘Ella’ dolls were given out free of charge to children who had lost their hair due to cancer treatment, but were not made available to the public.

Alopecia Areata is a vexing condition that is only partially understood despite being incredibly common. It frequently splits the medical community who do, at least, seem united in the belief that it can be triggered by such things as severe stress, allergies, and seasonal changes.

In those aged 16 years and over, it can be treated, and in many cases a bespoke Alopecia Areata treatment course will prove effective at regrowing the hair that has been lost in small patches. More severe cases – those where all head hair is lost due to Alopecia Totalis or Universalis – are difficult to treat, and treatments are generally only carried out in hospitals, but even then the methods tend to have very low success rates.

Unfortunately, no medications have yet been approved for use on children with Alopecia Areata, Alopecia Totalis or Alopecia Universalis. The good news – if there is any – is that in around 80 per cent of cases, children with Alopecia Areata will regrow their hair naturally within a year.

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The Belgravia Centre—————————————————————————————————–

The Belgravia Centre is the leader in hair loss treatment in the UK, with two clinics based in Central London. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation Form from anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world. View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which are the largest collection of such success stories in the world and demonstrate the levels of success that so many of Belgravia’s patients achieve. You can also phone 020 7730 6666 any time for our hair loss helpline or to arrange a free consultation.