skin disorders
Alopecia Areata
Symptoms of Alopecia Areata
Round, irregular patches of hair are suddenly lost. Around the edges of the patches are characteristic short, broken hairs, which resemble exclamation points. The site of hair loss is usually the scalp or beard. Sometimes all the scalp hair is lost (alopecia totalis), hair is lost from around the side and back edges of the scalp (ophiasis), or hair is lost on the top of the head but not at the edges of the scalp (sisaipho). Rarely, all body hair is lost (a condition called alopecia universalis). The nails may become pitted or rough, or the half moon at the base of the nails (the lunula) may be red. 