Why has my beard got bald patches under my chin?

GETTING TO THE HEART OF MEDICAL MATTERS

- Dr Rosemary Leonard 

Q I’m a healthy 42 year old. I have a very short beard, but recently I’ve noticed I’ve got two bald patches under my chin, each about the size of a 50p piece. The skin is completely smooth and there don’t appear to be any hairs growing at all, so my beard now looks odd. My scalp hair is fine, so is there anything I can do about this?

A Complete loss of a patch of hair, with smooth skin, is a symptom of the condition alopecia areata. Although it normally affects scalp hair, there can be hair loss anywhere on the body, including the beard area, eyebrows or eyelashes.

As in your case, the bald patches are usually around the size of a large coin and develop quite quickly. Sometimes one or more appear a few weeks after the first. It’s caused by the body’s own immune system attacking the hair follicles, so is an auto-immune condition.

It may be triggered by a recent illness and some link its onset to a stressful life event, but in many people alopecia areata seems to start for no reason at all.

Sometimes it can run in families and has been known to come on in twins at the same time.

Those with alopecia areata have a slightly increased risk of developing other auto-immune conditions, particularly thyroid disorders, so anyone with the condition should have a blood test done for this.

Most cases of alopecia get better on their own without treatment, although it may take several months for hair to grow back.