Visitor’s Question:
Good evening, Shuna.
The school nurse has recently diagnosed my 6-year-old daughter with Alopecia Areata. She has not given me any information whatsoever; she said she would send a letter to the hospital and they may or may not chose to see my daughter.
I noticed about two weeks ago that half of her eyebrow is missing, but she fell off the bike that week, so I just put it down to that. When I was brushing her hair, I have noticed one small patch just above her ear, and that is when I decided to go the see GP. I would like to make an appointment with yourself if possible as I would like to see if you can give us more information about what happens next, what are possible treatments as what I read on the internet is pretty scary.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Shuna’s Answer:
I am sorry for this situation, hair loss is frightening as an adult but noticing on your child is losing hair, must be really worrying.
In many cases (assuming this really is AA, I will confirm in consultation) the patch in children spontaneously regrows. But for your peace of mind, you may like me to take a look and possibly organise some blood tests to be sure she absorbs the food she eats. As a Mother myself, I appreciate it’s difficult to know exactly what they eat at school.
I feel it is important to play this down to her as she mustn’t know your worry about the situation. You could, however, examine the phycology of discussing any concerns she has perhaps at school as at this age they often lack the emotional maturity to explain how they feel and put names to emotions.
I hope this gives you some relief; we can discuss more in our meeting.
