Alopecia.
(Synonym: Baldness.)
What do you understand by alopecia?
By alopecia is meant loss of hair, either partial or complete.
Name the several varieties of alopecia.
The so-called varieties are based mainly upon the etiology, and are named congenital alopecia, premature alopecia and senile alopecia.
Describe congenital alopecia.
Congenital alopecia is a rare condition, in which the hair-loss is usually noted to be patchy, or the general hair-growth may simply be scanty. In rare instances the hair has been entirely wanting; in such cases there is usually defective development of other structures, such as the teeth.
Describe premature alopecia.
Loss of hair occurring in early and middle adult life is not uncommon, and may consist of a simple thinning or of more or less complete baldness of the whole or greater part of the scalp. It usually develops slowly, some months or several years passing before the condition is well established. It is often idiopathic, and without apparent cause further than probably a hereditary predisposition. It may also be symptomatic, as, for example, the loss of hair, usually rapid (defluvium capillorum), following systemic diseases, such as the various fevers, and syphilis; or as a result of a long-continued seborrhœa or seborrhœic eczema (alopecia furfuracea).