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He started out with a spot the size of a quarter about 2 years ago and went through a short steroid treatment. The spot of hair grew back.

Then the week before this past Christmas he lost it all in about a week. He went through 2 treatments of the injections in the scalp but it proved to be too painful. We are all in the process of just trying to accept it.

Yes, a bald head on men is somewhat popular right now but a bit of a shock on a 12 year old. Some kids at school were a bit mean at first but the school has explained it and things are much better.

It isn’t fatal and one can live a regular life with it but it’s still heart breaking to watch the little guy go through it.

When our youngest boy was about 5 his hair started coming out in clumps. Bald spots here and there. Luckily, we had a Dr. who did a scalp scrape skin test, and tho I can't recall the name of what he had, it was a fungus he had picked up playing in the dirt.

He took an oral medication that cleared it right up.

Alopecia effects all the hair, including the eyebrows. That's the tough part.

Here are some newer treatments that your dermatologist might try, but alopecia areata totalis is often resistent to treatment:

Topical steroids, anthralin, and minoxidil are additional therapeutic modalities that have been used with mixed success over the last several years.

Topical immunotherapy is relatively new in the treatment of alopecia areata and has been showing promising results in many patients. The contact sensitizer squaric acid dibutylester (SADBE) is an ideal immunogen in that it is a strong topical sensitizer, is not found in the natural environment, does not cross-react with other chemicals, and is not mutagenic by the Ames test. After sensitization by application to a small patch of skin, SADBE is applied to the areas of alopecia on an individualized schedule; concentration is based on tolerance and hair regrowth response. People who are "responders" may note initial hair regrowth after approximately 12 weeks of treatment.

Topical tacrolimus is an immunomodulatory macrolide that has been used with great success in the treatment of atopic dermatitis and has recently been shown to have beneficial effects on alopecia areata-like hair loss in a mouse model.[3] The reports, to date, on efficacy in humans have been less satisfying; in fact, a presentation by Dr. Vera Price at the Alopecia Areata Research Symposium noted that topical tacrolimus did not work for alopecia areata.

Another immune-modifying topical agent, imiquimod, which is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of genital warts, has also been used in the treatment of alopecia areata but, again, with mixed results.