A child's frightning diagnosis

[analopeciamom]

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

my eight year old daughter was just diagnosed Friday with alopecia areaota.

She has been experiencing bald patches for about nine months now. Initially we thought that she was having some type of fungal problem from a weekend swimming trip. When the patch only got progressively worse we took her to her pediatrician, the dr. said that the problem was only cosmetic, and it was basically much adieu about nothing. When I insisted this was much more than a mother wanting her daughters hair to appear absolutely fabulous; he treated my daughter for a common ringworm fungus. Needless to say we went for two- months gagging this child with horrible tasting meds that she would take... gag... and regurgitate because they were just that terrible. I came to a point where I felt enough was enough. (Her self esteem was heading for rock bottomquick) I was refered to a pediatric Dermatologist, who diagnosed my daughter after a brief history and examination with alopecia areata. Clinically I understand the diagnosis; however, emotionally I am devastated. A mothers job is to know all and understand all! How can iI do this if I cannot relate to my child. PLEASE HELP ME KNOW AND UNDERSTAND SOMEONE PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[WithTheLidOff]

first and foremost...i really sympathize with you. Its very tough for a really young kid to have to deal with that.
I dont know too much about it, but it must be extremely rare for a child to start losing their hair like that...it must be in a weird pattern. I remember there being a balding boy at the summer camp i used to go to and eventually his hair got normal looking, so I think there is a cure, or it isnt permanent. (maybe he got an operation) That was like 17 years ago. I'm sorry, i cant help or provide any useful information.....you may want to try the female section of this site....they'll probably be better informed about AA.

Sorry and good luck!

 

[fallicule]

One of my best friends was just diagnosed with this condition about a month and a half ago. He went to the doctor and his doctor said they knew very little about how this condition comes. They gave him a steroid cream for his head... but his hair hasnt grown back yet. I don't know how safe it is for a 8 year old female to mess with steroid lotions so I'm not going recommend that. I don't know what else to do for it... On a positive note, the doctor told him that the hair lost almost always grows back, but that the person can have repeated outbreaks throughout their future. Sorry this isnt an optomistic post with great insight, i'm just sharing what I know. Good luck to you and your daughter.

 

[Guest]

I would try to look for support groups in your area. If your child can meet people of a similar age with this problem then I'm sure this would help. It must be devastating at such a young age.

You also need to understand that young children can take these knocks in life and fight back really hard. Don't let her see you getting down about it as that will make her worse. You need to be her rock and support her. You need to tell her it's not her fault. I'm pretty sure you are already doing this.

At such a young age I'm not even sure about treatments. This is a really tricky one. Because normally the hair will grow back in 50% of people within a year. But if the situation continues for longer then the chances of the hair growing back are remote.

Was a biopsy taken to determine the cause? If not I would push for one. In alopecia areata there are immune cells within the hair follicle because it's an abnormality in the immune system that causes it in the first place.

Has your child suffered any trauma over the last year or so. Such as an injury or something like that? They don't really know what causes it but sometimes a bad injury can make the body react in strange ways. Not even right away, could be months later.

I once had a serious squash injury where I twsited my ankle. A few months down the line I was crippled with fybromyalgia for about a year. Now I'm pretty sure that it was an immune based illness due to my injury.

Then all of a sudden it disapeared. I still get the feeling it's there waiting to pounce. I hope to god it does not.

Let me know what you think.....

 

[brianwaldman]

My daughter had alopecia areata at about the same age maybe a little older. I know exactly how you feel. My wife and I were terrified. Her dermatologist did give us steroid cream for her so she isn't too young for it. She had three patches that grew to about half dollar coin size and then stopped and many months later started to regrow. She had full regrowth. She is now 14 with no reoccurence. If her patches have stopped growing in size you should see regrowth within a few months. I learned from research that it's an unpredictable condition. You won't know what it's going to do but most cases resolve themselves and are an isolated one time thing. Chances are this will be the case with your daughter. Please get the steroid cream asap. It's the only thing available that has any effect. Good luck.