Alopecia Areata

In My Humble Opinion
1

Alopecia Areata is an autoimmune disorder where your body attacks your hair folicles, resulting in partial to complete hair loss.

My 5-year-old son has this, he’s totally bald including his eyebrows and occassionally his eyelashes. The most severe forms, which he looks like he has, result in total body hairlessness for life - head, arms, chest, pubic, etc.

As he ages, he’s become more aware of this difference between him and other kids. We’ve become part of a playgroup with other kids roughly his age (one older, one younger) who also have Alpopecia. We’re trying to encourage him to accept his condition, we’re not trying to cover with wigs, “hair prosthetics”, etc. We have a lot of “everybody’s different” conversations.

Do any fellow dopers have this condition? How did you deal with it growing up? How do you deal with it today? Any similar experiences you can share?

-Belrix

If you want to read more about this: http://www.naaf.org

2

I do not have alopecia. However, I went to school with 2 different people, and I can tell you how they were treated.

#1 - He was a kid I went to high school with. He was a black kid, so that he was totally bald was not that unusual, as lots of other HS boys also had shaved heads. He was popular in kind of a goofy way: everyone knew who he was (I think because he was bald), but he was a nice guy, so everyone who knew him liked him. I have a positive memory of him, and it didn’t appear he was ever teased or anything. (of course, maybe he was earlier in life, I don’t know)

#2 - She was a gal I went to college with. She wore a wig. It was a pretty good one, and I knew who she was for a while before I realized that she didn’t have eyebrows or eyelashes, and hence it was not her real hair. I remember envying her because she never had to shave her legs (okay, okay, it’s dumb, I know). I also remember all the guys postulating on what she looked like naked, and what it would be like to sleep with her. She seemed to be pretty popular, although I didn’t like her(thought she tended to look down on us “nerds”). She was a pretty gal with a great figure, so she wasn’t often without a date. On the surface she seemed to be pretty well adjusted about it. Midway through college, it came out that she had gone on Montel Williams and had removed her wig. So it became the big thing to talk about that she was bald.

I think the bottom line is that if your child is likeable and friendly, those who might stare, etc. will be won over by personality. Once that happens, the lack of hair won’t matter.

I suspect, though I obviously wouldn’t know, that being a boy might help. I would imagine it would be much more “shocking” to see a bald woman than a bald man, since so many men either go bald, or choose to shave as their hairstyle. Not many hairless women out there, so they tend to get noticed.

Not sure if that helps, but hey, I gave it a shot.

3

That does help - I find it the sexual speculation by the college men interesting - her hairless was thought exotic, I guess.

There’s a couple of interesting reactions from regular people about my son:

  1. He’s got cancer or some other serious illness.

  2. We’re cruel people who’ve shaved his head (strangely, one stupid woman would not take the real answer as valid - she was ready to turn us over to child services.)

  3. Whazzat?

  4. The few strange people who feel compelled to touch his head.

  5. From kids, “Mom! That kid doesn’t have any hair!”

He stands out in a crowd - most of our church knows him at least by sight and all have been kind about it. Most, though, think him sick in some way.