Alopecia Areata is characterized as

• A. Temporary hair loss after pregnancy.
• B. General thinning over the crown.
• C. Permanent hair loss.
• D. Auto-immune disease causing sudden hair loss.

Answer: (D)

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system mistakenly attacks hair follicles, leading to sudden patchy hair loss. This explains why the loss can appear abruptly and in discrete spots, and why regrowth is possible as the immune activity decreases. It differs from postpartum shedding, which is temporary shedding after pregnancy, and from pattern thinning seen in androgenetic alopecia, which is a gradual, diffuse thinning rather than sudden patches. While most cases are not permanently irreversible, hair loss can recur and, in rare situations, become longer-lasting.