Alopecia Areata can respond well to steroid treatment.
When we hear the word steroids, our minds usually jump to images of fake-tanned body builders standing in uncomfortable looking poses. The word steroid, when used in that context refers to anabolic steroids. Male sex hormones that help lay down muscle mass.
When one looks at our physiology a little, this confusion soon goes away.
Our bodies evolved in an environment of dealing with basic predatory threats in the animal kingdom. The stress response is often referred to as the fight or flight mechanism, because we produce a cocktail of hormones that make us stronger to fight a predator or flee the scene.
Studying animals in Africa help us understand our own physiology better. Fights are sudden and violent, during which a lot of the dust from the dry plains is disturbed. As we use more air during combat, we would cause an allergic reaction if our stress hormones did not suppress the normal inflammatory response.
The body therefore makes a short term survival decision that overrides longer term health consideration. For example blood is diverted away from digestion and directed to muscles as there is no point in wasting energy digesting your lunch at the point you are likely to become someone else’s lunch!
Corticosteroids drugs were developed from the action of our adrenal hormone cortisol due to its inflammatory and immune suppressing abilities.
It is thought that alopecia areata is caused by a proliferation of immune cells attacking the hair follicles in the area of the hair loss. So technically it is a malfunction of the immune system not a problem with the hair.
Steroids can be applied directly to the affected areas to cause a local immune suppression.
Many people still hold a very negative view of steroids, because of their well documented side effects. However what is not appreciated is that the early development of steroids involved systemic use and today topical versions are available in differing strengths.
The smaller the areas being treated topically and the shorter the period of treatment, the less likely one is to develop side effects. However the following are the most common side effects with topically applied steroids:
1) Temporary loss of skin pigment.
2) Thinning of the skin, which may result in permanent stretch marks.
3) Redness of the skin caused by alterations in the capillaries.
4) Allergic reactions.
5) The skin may bruise easily.
6) As the immune system has been depressed, infections can take hold.
The larger the area treated the greater the chance of the steroid entering the bloodstream and travel away from the point of application. This can give more serious problems like suppressed adrenal function and growth problems in children.
It follows that the doctor will look to administer the lightest strength steroid possible for a short period of time to avoid such side effects.
Parents in particular worry when they see the list of potential side effects when using steroids to treat alopecia areata.
What started off as a world wide search to solve our own alopecia more than 20 years ago, soon gained media attention. Today it has developed into a free resource centre where people openly show others how they have beaten alopecia areata We have also recently developed a specialist site dealing with Children’s Hair Loss and started to recruit parents to show their childs progress. “Alopecia can be beaten”
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