Alopecia
Alopecia The medical term for baldness. Well known, and varying in onset, in the course of ageing. It also occurs, less irrevocably, due to skin damage or disease or to the side-effects of chemotherapy or radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer. The cells at the base of the hair follicles of the scalp, which normally keep on manufacturing new keratinous substance to add to the root of the hair, die or cease to function; the hair therefore falls out and is not replaced, until or unless that cellular function is restored. Alopecia may extend beyond the scalp to other body hair. Alopecia areata is a chronic condition of patchy baldness.
See baldness; hair; skin.
Stuart Judge
See baldness; hair; skin.
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Alopecia
