Jada Pinkett Smith Has Alopecia. Here’s Everything You Need To Know About It, From Causes To Treatment
Actor Will Smith made headlines for slapping comedian Chris Rock on the stage of the 94th Academy Awards. During the Oscars, the comedian cracked a joke about Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith being bald which made the actor angry. In response, Will Smith walked up to Chris Rock on the stage and slapped him in the face while screaming profanities and asking him to shut up and not take his wife’s name. For the uninitiated, Jada Pinkett Smith is not bald by choice but due to an autoimmune disorder called Alopecia. Not many people know about this problem and Jada Pinkett Smith’s struggle with it. Here’s everything you need to know about Alopecia.
What Is Alopecia?
Alopecia or Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder that leads to hair fall. It makes your hair fall in clumps. It often occurs in women between the age of 30 to 50 years and the amount of hair loss differs from person to person. While some people lose only a little bit of hair, others lose a lot. There are no guarantees if the hair will grow back or not. In some cases, it grows back but falls again later and in others, it grows back for good.
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Types Of Alopecia
There are different types of Alopecia with Alopecia areata being the most common one. Alopecia areata totalis is when one loses all the hair on their head. In Alopecia areata unversalis, the patient loses the hair from all parts of their body. Diffuse alopecia areata is a condition where one experiences sudden thinning of hair instead of patches. In Ophiasis alopecia areata, one loses hair in the shape of a band around the sides and back of their head.
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Causes
Alopecia is similar to an autoimmune disease during which your immune system attacks the cells of your body. In this disease, the hair follicles are attacked leading to hair loss. The cause behind this disease remains unknown but the experts say that it has something to do with people’s genetic history. Something in the genes of the people is likely to be the trigger behind the disease. While no specific cause has been narrowed down, people with a family genetic history of seasonal allergies, asthma, down syndrome, thyroid disease, vitiligo, pernicious anaemia and genetic predisposition to alopecia could get this disease.
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Symptoms Of Alopecia
People with Alopecia other experience symptoms like small bald patches on the scalp or other body parts. Their patches may grow and in some cases, the hair may grow back in one spot but hair may fall out in other. An increase in overall hair loss is another symptom of this disease. The hair fall increase during the winter season and fingernails as well as toenails become red, brittle and pitted. In Alopecia, the bald patches are usually smooth and have no rash or redness and just before the hair falls out, one may experience tingling, itching or a burning sensation.
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Treatment
There is no cure for Alopecia but there are treatments that can be tried to grow the hair back.
– Corticosteroids are anti-inflammatory drugs that can be prescribed to treat this autoimmune disease. They can be injected into the scalp and other body parts or given as a pill or as an ointment, cream or foam to be rubbed on the skin. They usually take a long time to work.
– Topical Immunotherapy is another treatment that can be tried to grow the hair back. In this treatment, chemicals are applied to the affected region to produce an allergic reaction which often leads to a rash as well as hair growth.
– Another treatment is Minoxidil. This medicine is applied on the scalp to treat pattern baldness and talks about 12 weeks to show results.
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Also Read: Oscars 2022: Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock For Mocking Jada Pinkett Smith Sends Twitter In A Frenzy. Flora Saini Reacts
But the honest truth is that even with all the treatment, there is no guarantee that the hair will grow back for good and in most cases, the patients have to simply learn to live with the disease.
