No. Alopecia is a broad medical term for hair loss of any kind, and there are many types. Using it precisely matters, because the wrong term can lead to the wrong diagnosis, the wrong support, and confusion when raising awareness. AAAF focuses specifically on Alopecia Areata and its variants, including Alopecia Totalis (complete scalp hair loss) and Alopecia Universalis (complete loss of all body hair).

No. You cannot “catch” it from another person. Alopecia Areata is an autoimmune condition, where the immune system mistakenly attacks the hair follicles. It is not infectious, not caused by poor hygiene, and not something that can be passed on through contact.

It’s complicated, and many people in our community are surprised to find there’s no simple yes or no. Sometimes, Alopecia Areata appears with no family history and no clear explanation. As one person shared: “The reason you have Alopecia can’t always be explained.” The fuller picture is that Alopecia Areata is polygenic, meaning a combination of changes across many genes appears to be involved, including genes that function in the hair and skin and in the immune system. It also shares genetic risk factors with other autoimmune conditions, which is why people with Alopecia Areata may also develop other autoimmune disorders, including vitiligo, lupus, and autoimmune thyroid diseases.

The risk of developing Alopecia Areata is greater for first-degree relatives of affected individuals than in the general population, but having a family member with the condition does not mean you will develop it, and many people have no family history at all. In short: genes play a role, but they are not destiny, and Alopecia Areata cannot be traced to a single inherited cause.

It depends on the type and extent of the condition. For many people hair does regrow, sometimes naturally and other times through treatment. For others, the loss is permanent, and the extent of the loss can change over their lifetime. The unpredictability is part of what makes Alopecia Areata so difficult to live with, and comments like “at least it will grow back” can be hard to hear when you simply don’t know.

Not yet. Research is ongoing and AAAF actively funds and supports studies into new treatments, working alongside some of the world’s leading dermatologists.

No, it’s so much more than that. Hair is tied to identity, to how we present ourselves to the world, and to how we feel in our own skin, and how we navigate the world. It is not just hair.