Suffering from Lupus Hair Loss?

What is Lupus Hair Loss?

Lupus Hair Loss is directly caused by Discoid Lupus Erythematosus (DLE), a chronic skin condition. It can trigger inflammation to the skin especially in the facial and neck areas. This condition can lead to the development of red lesions with scally or crusty appearance. Lupus hair loss occurs when these lesions grow on your scalp, it causes damage to your hair follicles. If you leave it untreated, it can lead to permanent hair loss.

A small percentage of people with this condition can develop into a more serious disease known as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) which affects your internal organs. If you do not treat and manage this disease properly, you might develop complications and in severe cases can lead to death.

Medical Symptoms

Although DLE can affect anyone, it is more common in younger adult females, especially Hispanics and people with African origins. If you are worried about having this disease, look out for red patches or bumps that don't subside in the areas of your

• Face
• Mouth
• Ears
• Scalp

The patches might appear to be scaly, irregular and may itch a little.

What Causes Discoid Lupus Erythematosus?

While the actual causes of this disease are still unknown, research shows that it is linked with genetics and can probably passed down from your family.

Ultra Violet exposure coupled with stress can further add the severity to the condition because UV rays can cause mutations to the skin's DNA. Stress can also reduce the ability of your body to fight this disease.

Self Care

As there is no cure for DLE, proper self care and management of this condition is important. What you can do is to

• Best avoid sun light exposure if possible.
• Wear dark clothing regularly because they do a really good job diverting UV rays.
• Stay out of excessive cold or hot places as it might inflame the condition.
• Use sun blocks containing titanium dioxide, zinc oxide during outdoors activities.

If you are having patches in your scalp, shaving your hair bald will allow you to properly apply the medications. You can always grow back your hair later after you subdue the disease.

Getting the right medication attention.

As DLE is an autoimmune disorder, you have to get a check up with your doctor and inform him about the patches. Your doctor will usually do a biopsy (removing some skin samples) and a blood test to confirm whether your condition is related to DLE.

As there is no cure for DLE, your doctor can only prescribe you medications to control the symptoms until it improves on its own. It will usually take a few months to years for the situation to be under control.

Your doctor might prescribe

• Topical Immmunosuppresive drugs
• Corticosteroids for the inflammation
• Anti malarial drugs for severe cases
• Oral medications

While taking some of these medications, you might lose hair because of the stress the medications are doing to your body. In most cases, your hair will grow back after quitting the treatment.