There are a number of issues that need to be addressed when you first learn that you have alopecia areata.  The first is figuring out what exactly is alopecia?  As we feel no real need to try and re-invent the wheel here, we'll direct you to the sites of some organizations that have written descriptions of this disease.  In most cases they also have excellent answers to the most frequently asked questions. 

You'll find that while many of the answers tend to agree with one another from site to site, there are some differences in how different organizations and different doctors define certain aspects of alopecia areata.  This is a result of the fact that alopecia areata specifically, and auto-immune diseases in general, are little understood disorders with no known cure at this time.  Certain treaments work for some people.  Some people enjoy a return to full health with no medical intervention at all.  And some people experience no relief even after trying nearly every trick in the book.  Uncertainty is, unfortunately, just the nature of the beast.

So what follows then is an in-no-way complete listing of alopecia FAQ's lists that can be found on the web.  We take no responsibility for the information on these lists, but we have found them to be the most imformative, authoritative, and helpful that we have come across.

The National Alopecia Areata Foundation FAQ

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases FAQ

MedicineNet's listing for Alopecia Areata

MedicineOnline's Encyclopedia listing for Alopecia Areata 

Harvard Medical School's Consumer Health Information

We thought it might be interesting to those of us who are new to the whole "alopecia experience", to have some idea of what it is that your doctor is thinking (and the process she/he undertakes) when we march into their office, all freaked out, exclaiming "My Hair Is Falling Out!  Make It Stop!"  So we share with you this piece prepared for the esteemed British Journal of Dermatology by S.P. MacDonald Hull, M.L. Wood, P.E. Hutchinson, M. Sladden, A.G. Messenger and posted on MedLine.  It is entitled Guidelines for the Management of Alopecia Areata and was posted the 4th of December in 2003. 

We found it to be extremely enlightening and very helpful when visiting our physician.  Both to know what to expect from our care, and to understand the limitations of the science available to our doctor.  We hope this helps to shed some light onto what can seem to be an overwhelming situation.

Summary

These guidelines for management of alopecia areata have been prepared for dermatologists on behalf of the British Association of Dermatologists. They present evidence-based guidance for treatment, with identification of the strength of evidence available at the time of preparation of the guidelines, and a brief overview of epidemiological aspects, diagnosis and investigation.

Introduction

Alopecia areata is a chronic inflammatory disease which affects the hair follicles and sometimes the nails. The onset may be at any age and there is no known race or sex preponderance. Alopecia areata usually presents as patches of hair loss on the scalp but any hair-bearing skin can be involved. The affected skin may be slightly reddened but otherwise appears normal. Short broken hairs (exclamation mark hairs) are frequently seen around the margins of expanding patches of alopecia areata. The nails are involved in about 10% of patients referred for specialist advice. Data from secondary and tertiary referral centres indicate that 34-50% of patients will recover within 1 year, although almost all will experience more than one episode of the disease, and 14-25% progress to total loss of scalp hair (alopecia totalis, AT) or loss of the entire scalp and body hair (alopecia universalis, AU), from which full recovery is unusual (< 10%). One study from Japan reported that spontaneous remission within 1 year occurred in 80% of patients with a small number of circumscribed patches of hair loss. The prognosis is less favourable when onset occurs during childhood and in ophiasis (alopecia areata of the scalp margin). The concurrence of atopic disease has been reported to be associated with a poor prognosis but this has been disputed.

There are several places you can go to help you find a doctor if you don't yet have one.  Or if the doctor you are currently seeing is not a good fit for you.  Obviously, your local phone book isn't a bad place to start.  But there are also some online resources that are worth checking out.  Here are some of our favorites.

• The American Academy of Dermatology has a 'Find A Dermatologist' feature that only requires you to type in your zip code and the radius in miles around your home that you want them to search.  You can also pick a specialty within dermatology, and 'Hair Disorders' is one of the options.
• DermNet New Zealand also has a Dermatologist locator where you need only click on the map to find a dermatologist in your area. 
• The Australasian College of Dermatologists will help you find a Dermatologist near you, with some map clicking and scrolling.  But they do point out that they cannot provide referrals to see these doctors, and that you will need to visit your GP to get your referral if one is required.