We quite often get enquiries from women who are suffering from hair loss but there is not much that we can do for them as in most cases, the sort of hair loss that they are suffering from is something called alopecia areata. The appearance of this type of hair loss is when large areas of the scalp shed hair and form bald patches. In extreme cases, people can lose all the hair from every part of their body. It is not known exactly why this happens and it is heart-wrenching telling patients that there is not much that we can do for them. It is thought that alopecia areata is caused by an autoimmune disease so it is often treated with steroids to suppress the immune system. The problem with this is that the hair loss usually resumes as soon as the patient comes off the steroid treatment so it is not very satisfactory. Some people will grow their hair back and others will suffer sporadically thoughout their lives.
Here is a link to a diary kept by Lulu O'Hagan who suffers from alopecia areata and published in The Times