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Baldness, patchy

Medically referred to as alopecia areata (alopecia means baldness and areata means occurring in patches). The problem typically begins with patchy hair loss on the scalp and sometimes progresses to complete baldness and even loss of body hair. Although alopecia areata affects 2.5 million people in the united states alone, little is known about its underlying causes. Stress, a disordered immune system, and several different unknown genes may possibly play a part.