What causes alopecia areata?
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease. This means that your immune system mistakenly attacks a part of your body.
When you have alopecia areata, cells in your immune system surround and attack your hair follicles (the part of your body that makes hair). This attack on a hair follicle causes the attached hair to fall out.
The more hair follicles that your immune system attacks, the more hair loss you will have.
It’s important to know that while this attack causes hair loss, the attack rarely destroys the hair follicles. This means that your hair can regrow. The less hair loss you have, the more likely it is that your hair will regrow on its own.
Can a vitamin D deficiency cause alopecia areata?
Studies have found that people with certain autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis, have a vitamin D deficiency.
Because alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease, scientists have looked at the vitamin D levels in people who have alopecia areata. Some people did have a vitamin D deficiency, but others didn’t.
More research is needed before we know whether low levels of vitamin D play a role in causing this disease.
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease that occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks hair follicles.
www.aad.org