The National Alopecia Areata Foundation says alopecia areata affects about 2 percent of the population. About five million people in the United States have the condition. It affects people of all ages and races, and often begins in childhood.
That was true of twenty-two-year-old Kayla Martell, the winner of the Miss Delaware Pageant. Ms. Martell began losing her hair when she was about ten years old. By the time she was thirteen, all of her hair had fallen out.
Kayla Martell began competing in beauty pageants around that same time. In many of the events, she competed without hair. In fact, three of the five times she attempted to become Miss Delaware, Kayla was bald. She wore a blond wig the last time she competed, winning the competition in 2010.
That win put her in position to take part in the Miss America Pageant in January. Ms. Martell has used beauty pageants to help educate the public about alopecia. She compares wearing a hairpiece to other beauty queen traditions, like false eyelashes and hair weaves.
She says it is important for people to understand the emotional and social pressure that alopecia sufferers experience. She advises people with alopecia to contact a support group to tell them that they are not alone. She also says the most important form of beauty is inside out, not outside in.
Kayla Martell did not win the 2011 Miss America Pageant. But she was one of the top ten finalists. And her public comments have helped raised public understanding of alopecia.
Except for their hair loss, many people with alopecia are healthy individuals. And since the hair follicles are not dead, some people with alopecia can experience periods of hair growth. Ms. Martell’s hair grew during the Miss America competition. She now has what is sometimes called a buzz cut, a short crop of soft, fuzzy hair. Alopecia patients may grow and lose their hair several times during their life.
Scientists are not exactly sure what causes alopecia areata. It is not clear why the body’s white blood cells begin to attack the cells in the hair follicles. There is no cure for the disease and no effective treatment that works for everyone.
Last year, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center in New York reported findings that they hope will help lead to a cure. The researchers found eight genes they believe may be important in causing the condition. They said many of the genes are also linked to autoimmune diseases. These include rheumatoid arthritis, type-1 diabetes and celiac disease, a condition that affects the digestive system.
There are already effective treatments available for many of these conditions. Other treatments are being developed. The researchers say these treatments could prove to be promising for alopecia patients.
Angela Christiano is a professor at Columbia University Medical Center. She also suffers from alopecia areata. She says the study gives hope that there may someday be a cure for the condition.
The researchers studied 1,054 cases from the National Alopecia Areata Registry. They looked for similarities in the genes that people with different levels of alopecia carry. They found that those with thirteen to fourteen similar genes had diseases that did not progress. Those with sixteen or more similar genes usually progressed to alopecia universalis, or total baldness.
The researchers are now working on a genetic test to predict the severity of the disease. Professor Christiano says the next step is to repeat the study in future research, with a larger number of patients.
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