Alopecia?

[Susan Thomas]

Sam has had a small bald spot on his head for quite a while now, right at
the "pointy" part towards the back and side of his head. At first I thought
it was just friction (like newborns get on back of their head) because of
the location -- then I thought maybe ringworm, after he had a bout of that.
But the hair around the ringworm location has grown back, and the bald spot
is more pronounced if anything (it was never scaley). I have no idea what
alopecia looks like -- is it a general balding, or is a spot like this
typical? Is there any point to taking him to the doctor for it --
treatment, or something more serious that could be causing it? It is
severely traumatic to do anything involving Sam's scalp, which is why I'm
hesitant to take him to the doctor -- he'll be in hysterics and flinging
himself around if the pediatrician tries to examine it, especially after
the ringworm -- but I will if there's a reason.

Thanks --

Susan
mom to Sam (4.5, DS)
suze...@prodigy.net -- ignore the other email address

(PS -- for anyone who knew about this -- my husband is off his treatment
and had a negative RNA (viral check) -- he's much happier and life's
getting better :-)

[Tracey Finch]

Susan,

Will, 6.5 yrs, is currently going through a bout with alopecia. Last
year was the first time that we noticed it. It started out as a
small dime size bald patch. We gave him a buzz cut for the summer
and noticed that he had about three of them (initially, we thought it
was a bad buzz cut on our part). I took him to the pediatrician who
treated it pretty casually, not much you can do about it, etc. I
insisted that Will get his thyroid checked (it hadn't been checked in
a couple of years) as that is a cause of hair loss. Will's thyroid
was fine. The pediatrician wouldn't say the word "alopecia" and in
my stubbornness, I took him to a dermatologist. Yes, it was alopecia
but the hair was already growing back. The exam is pretty
non-invasive, the doctor just needs to look at it. Will's hair
eventually all grew back.

Again this Spring he started up again and this time it is worse,
instead of 4-5 small patches, he has lost about 30% of his hair in
the last two months. We finally did another buzz cut. But, again,
the good news is that he's got hair growing back already.

The dermatologist did say that there is a treatment that involves
giving the patient shots of cortisone (I think that was it, it's been
8 months since we saw her) directly into the affected area and that
the treatment isn't always successful or that the hair may have grown
back without the shots. I opted not to even pursue that option ...
figured a semi-bald head was preferable.

I recently saw on one website on alopecia that Rogaine (I think it
was the prescription strength) has been successful for some types of
alopecia. But, since Will's hair is already growing back I doubt
that we'll pursue that either.

I think if Will had only had one small patch, we wouldn't have
bothered giving him a buzz cut, but with the number and size of
patches he looks better with the short hair. Most people think he
just squirmed something awful during the haircut process. Sometimes
we correct them and other times not, truth is he DOES squirm during
haircuts.

If it is any consolation, even with the bald patches, I think Will is
darn handsome ... just shows his gorgeous blue eyes and mischievous
grin off all the more.

Best Wishes,
Trace

[Len Leshin]

At 09:08 PM 5/27/2000 -0400, Mark/Hattie Curry wrote:
>Just a question about the alopecia...Dr. Len, might be able to answer this.
>Is alopecia more common with children that have DS? It just seems to be very
>common on this list and I was wondering if this had something to do with DS
>or is it just coincidental or is it just common??

Alopecia does appear to be more common in children with DS.

Len

[noah]

I have problems with alopecia myself, and spent the entire last year in a
study to approve a higher dose formula for woem. Just for information,
Rogain is not suitable for patchy type hair loss. It's for "androgenetic
alopecia areata". Basically typical male or female pattern baldness. It is
not used to treat hairloss caused my hormone imbalances, or hairloss that
comes in patches.

~Leah Spring~

[Mary Beth Paul]

My son Peter Ben has had alopecia areata since he was about 3 years old-
off and on patchy loss, and seemingly worse in the winter. At first it
grew back each time, then it would not completely grow back, and for two
years he was completely bald except for a few nickel-sized patches on the
back of his scalp. But for the last ten months, it has been growing
again, and he now has a full head of hair! (I still can't believe this!)
We did some prescription creams at first, and also ruled out cortisone
shots. Most of the other types of meds for male pattern baldness have
serious side effects and should not be used on children.

I would suggest you have a dermatologist look at it. They can tell by the
hair follicles what is going on. It was hard for me at first, but
thankfully never bothered Peter Ben (he's 9). Good luck!

Mary Beth

[Rhonda]

When Jessica was first diagnosed, we went to a dermatologist who looked up
in one of his medical books that did say Alopecia is more prone to DS kids

Rhonda

Mary Beth Paul <pau...@osu.edu> wrote in message
news:paul.3-2905...@ts37-4.homenet.ohio-state.edu...