What causes alopecia? Here's what Jada Pinkett Smith has said about the condition
Viewers around the world were shocked on Sunday when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Academy Awards after Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
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The moment came after Pinkett Smith in 2018 confirmed she was diagnosed with alopecia, and the actress and “Red Table Talk” host has been open about her experience with hair loss.
But what is alopecia? How can it affect your hair, and are there any treatments for it? Here’s what you need to know:
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What is alopecia?
Alopecia is a medical term for hair loss, which can include everything from common balding on the head to hair loss on the body and more, according to the Mayo Clinic.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/what-causes-alopecia-here-s-what-jada-pinkett-smith-has-said-about-the-condition/ar-AAVAr1y
Doctors Discuss Alopecia and 9 Other Scalp Conditions That Call for Greater Awareness
The Will Smith and Chris Rock encounter at the 2022 Oscars is a moment that's generating quite a bit of buzz. Fortunately—of all the sides that are being argued across headlines and social media—the incident is highlighting one topic related to women's wellness that hasn't garnered quite the amount of attention it might deserve.
Reports today have suggested that Jada Pinkett Smith announced an alopecia diagnosis in 2018. Exactly what is alopecia? To start, it's the clinical term for baldness, and it affects roughly 6.8 million people in the United States, according to Dr. Sanam Hafeez, Psy.D., a New York City neuropsychologist and a teaching faculty member at Columbia University.
Dr. Hafeez explains that alopecia areata is a common autoimmune disorder that often results in unpredictable hair loss from the head. (There are two other main types of alopecia—alopecia totalis, which is the loss of all head hair; and alopecia universalis, the loss of all head and body hair.) She suggests the condition can affect anyone, regardless of age and gender...but it's not commonly known that 50 percent of women report some degree of hair thinning by age 50 says Jeffrey Miller, MD, Department of Dermatology chair at Penn State University's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. As Dr. Miller told the haircare brand Better Not Younger in 2018, "Hair loss and hair thinning are just as common among women as they are in men," Dr. Miller says, "but it's not socially acceptable for women to experience and deal with these."
Dr. Hafeez says alopecia has been linked with depression and anxiety. For alopecia patients who have experienced psychological effects such as these, Dr. Hafeez suggests it's important to keep things in perspective. She adds that while it's valid to experience feelings of discomfort or embarrassment, you might manage these feelings by proactively taking care of your body. "Do and engage in things that make you feel beautiful and positive about yourself," a representative for Dr. Hafeez said in an email to The Healthy.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/doctors-discuss-alopecia-and-9-other-scalp-conditions-that-call-for-greater-awareness/ar-AAVAJMv
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