Hi my son is 20 and he has alopecia universalis. He has no hair or body hair at all. After a soul destroying hospital appointment where the doc was very abrupt! We decided to try alternative medicine. Anything is worth a try. I did some research into homeopathy for alopecia and made an appointment with a lovely woman who basically said that the 1st thing to do is to cleanse your body from the inside. Everything we talked about at the consultation began to make sense in a weird sort of way. Homeopathy treats the person rather than the illness. If anything it has given him a little bit of hope and something to focus on. It's early days yet and he has started on a 70%alkaline-30%acid diet and also some tablets that she prescribed to cleanse the liver. She believes that the alopecia is triggered by a hormone imbalance which affects the autoimmune system.
Do some research and see what you think. As his mother I feel totally helpless and wish I could swap places with him. He's trying to stay positive and still going out and about but he is really self conscious, especially not having any facial hair. We have looked into the microblading for his eyebrows but we are waiting to see what happens with the homeopathy. It's going to be a slow process but will keep you updated 🙂
Written by
mumofn
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Hi mumofn your son has my deepest sympathies, it's a very hard condition to live with. My dermatologist is very nice but just tells me to stay positive, easier said than done! I have long wondered if there is a link with hormones and alopecia, mine started in my teens then cleared up when I had my children only to come back around the menopause. I had the odd little patch before it started to fall out in handfuls - now I am completely bald. Please keep me posted on his homeopathic treatment, I am very interested to see if it has any effect. I will do some research too, thank you.
Hi it's only been 3 weeks since he started this and he has a hair growing on his arm. I know it's only one but at least it is a sign that something is happening and hope is not lost. 🙂
I read your comment this morning and I find myself in the same situation. I have been diagnosed with alopecia universalis, but the only thing that has remained at the moment is my hair (which has thinned out a lot) and some sporadic growth around the body, but every doctor has told me that sooner or later, all my hair will drop out and I will remain without anything.
I have completely lost my eyebrows (and use make up to hide this fact), eyelashes, beard, hair on arms, half of hair on chest and the hair on my legs are also more or less gone. My hair has thinned out on top while I still consider myself to be lucky to have them still going strong on the sides.
I was diagnosed with alopecia universalis in November 2016, but I was determined to do something different. The reason for this is that my alopecia has been a slow process and each time, doctors have given me corticosteroids, which has helped me grow back what I lost, but, as soon as I stopped, it just fell again. I'm confident that I can win this battle. Hence the reason I chose a different path:
I went towards homeopathy. first of all I turned towards products which acted like corticosteriods (they recommended ribes nigrum). Then I went and bought several vitamin pills, such as vitamin B, omega 3-6 etc.
November and December passed and my hair continued to fall out. I knew homeopathy would take long, but its depressing when you don't see some slight, even minimal, improvement.
Then in January, I decided to change my ways. No point in taking vitamins etc if I was eating junk food. I eliminated everything as follows (after consulation with doctor): meat, fish, gluten foods, grain, citrus fruits (apparently acidic and bad for our condition), packaged products, sugar (all types), coffee, tea, pasta, pizza, bread, milk, yoghurt, soft drinks to name just a few. It was drastic but they all went.
In came the following: vegetables (except eggplants - apparently doesn't help), the greener the vegatables the better, legumes (mung beans were the ones I had to eat tons and tons a day), berries (tons and tons), fruit especially apples, garlic, onion, 1 egg a week (if I wanted), basmati rice, or brown rice (the less they treat the rice, the better). I was basically becoming a vegan (even if I don't consider myself as one, my diet reflected that).
Fast forward 2 months and my hair hasn't regrown but the falling of hair that I was experiencing in Nov and Dec has been completely eradicated. Although not fully satisfied with the fact that my hair continues to be as thin as hell, I can safely say that I am pleasantly happy that things might work out (over time).
I have been given some vitamins (from an ayuvedic doctor) so I would suggest listening to someone who is an expert in that.
It might not work, but it's worth a go. Keep his hopes up - he needs to try and be patient and keep with the program. I was told it could take up to 1-2 years.
Thanks for that laviolad. It's good to hear that things seem to improving for you.
Yes this is the type of diet my son is following. It's hard tho been so young to have to cut out all the foods that he likes. But he knows he has to if he's going to have any chance of this working. Did you actually have a consultation with a homeopath? Or have you just chosen to do this after research?
My son 1st started to lose about last January. He had a lot of facial hair and this was the 1st to go and then the head and body followed. It's a devastating thing to happen to any gender at any age.
I admire you all for finding the strength and confidence to get up and face the world each day and I hope one day there will be a cure for alopecia. 🙂
Well let me give just a brief outline of the history of my disease. Just a little background info, I'm 34 (alopecia started when I was 30) and had thick black hair and beard. It started with a 10p round patch on the beard in May 2013, surely due to long working hrs etc. (with strong connection to stress and probably poor diet) I didn't really pay much attention to it, and just let it go on. Then I went to my first visit in Jan 2014 as I slowly began to lose my beard and was starting to get a little worried. He gave me a lotion to apply, but nothing came of good and around the end of 2014 I had more or less lost all my beard.
Then in 2015, after a house relocation (always due to stress), I began to notice my eyebrows falling out. From that point on, I went to various doctors and professionals. The only real cure they gave me was corticosteroids, which admittedly worked wonders. My beard was growing back slowly and my eyebrows were almost back to normal. But the problem was when I had to stop. It seemed as though that as soon as I stopped, it became more aggressive and once again, I was left with no eyebrows and beard. I decided to stop the corticosteroids once and for all in August 2016.
Then I noticed in Oct 2016 a huge amount of my hair falling. I realised that the disease had now reached my hair. I was inclined to go back to medication, but I promised myself not to as the long term effects would completely destroy me. So I went to a homeopathy specialist in Nov 2016 after some careful research, and she gave me a load of products to take - the most important one being the ribes. She advised me to keep at it and not to miss a day - so I did, but no emphasis was put on a full strict diet. In fact, it was more, try to avoid this.., try to avoid that..... Nov and Dec passed and my hair would start falling even more. I felt depressed, yet I continued with it.
Then I decided to read a book about my condition from an American dermatologist. In it, she explained that our intestines are the "birthplace" of our immune system. If we don't look after it, then the body will just continue to attack the healthy tissues, or in this case, the hair follicles. I decided from Jan 2017 to eliminate, as advised in the book, gluten, lattosio and just completely concentrate on veggies, fruit, meat, fish etc.
I then went to a dermatologist in Feb 2017 (I had booked 1 year before as he is apparently one of the best in Italy - I live in Italy you see) and once again he told me that my condition was alopecia universalis and that the worst was yet to come. (as I mentioned, I still have some hair on the head, even if very thin). Once again, he offered corticosteriod, but I flatly refused. Demoralised, I arrived home and just cried. I decided that modern medicine doesn't have an answer to my problems after 4 years, so I would change ways. I decided that it was better to have no hair than to take corticosteroids and ruin my whole internal body system.
I stayed with the homeopathy and then decided to go and try the new ayuvedic ways. I booked an appointment 2 weeks ago, and he told me that what I was taking with homeopathy was fine, but I had to even eliminate the foods mentioned previously. So no meat, fish, eggplants, lattosio, coffee, sugar etc. It was drastic but necessary. He told me to stick to it - the whole point to homeopathy and ayvedic medicine is patience. I have seen some results - my hair has not fallen out in clumps like before and there has not been any regrowth but I'm sticking to it as much as possible. Every so often, I do eat a slice of bread, but the most important thing is to make sure that your consumption is 95% of what you CAN eat. If you can do 100% then even better.
It's tough for a 20 year old to do this, but he will notice that, heaven forbid, the hair will hopefully grow back, but more importantly, he will feel much lighter, slimmer and more active. Although my hair isn't how I want it, I feel great and have noticed that over time, you don't even crave for the things you wanted before.
Keep me updated, I would really like to know how it goes
My son sounds very much like you. Although young he too had a beard moustache and long thick hair. His loss also started with a patch in his beard then eyebrows.
I spoke to him yesterday and he has a few hairs growing in various places after just a few weeks. It may well be that this is the alopecia running its course or helped by the homeopathy. We'll never know. He's not getting his hopes up too much and he knows he could lose it again, but he's not stressing out as much which is a good thing. It's reassuring to know that someone else is trying the homeopathy, with noticeable changes. Thank you
Well, I've been going about it for 4 years and modern medicine just dosen't work. Corticosteroids help, but if you look at the side effects, they are extremely frightening.
From what I gather his alopecia is quite severe, while mine is very slow. I don't think there is much difference - the only thing we have to do is cure at the foundation.
Stress for sure (in my opinion) is a big factor and also diet - I'm actually hoping it is! Tell him not to get stressed. The fact that he has some hair growing is a positive sign and will certainly keep his hopes up. Even a white hair on my eyebrow made me feel over the moon!
Just on the side, try and get his thyroid checked up. I was diagnosed with chronic hashimoto thryroid disease (always immune system disease) and apparently quite common among alopecia sufferers. Even if he has hashimoto, that seems to be easily cured - that would be my advice to you.
However your son would need to lead a more simple and healthier life, even if the problem is resolved. The problem with immune disease is that it can go on and affect other tissues in the body. He is more susceptible to having celiac, arthritis etc. This was probably one of the reasons why I accepted alopecia because I looked at the others which seemed to be more problematic in every day life. With alopecia, it's a mental thing, and as soon as you get over that hurdle, you soon go about your daily life in a better way.
I understand, however, that it's not so easy. I've had several people come up to me and say if everything is fine with me. I feel like a monster as people think I've undergone chemio or something similar. Although grateful for people's worries about my health, it does annoy you sometimes that at such a young age, you have this condition - but always remember to look on the bright side.
He's been tested for thyroid and coeliac and everything else and they're all fine for now. It is severe. He's losing his nails as well.
He feels the same. People he was at school with don't recognise him. It's heartbreaking not been able to help him. But he's staying positive he's just renewed his passport and is booking a holiday with his mates.
Hi. I dont have alopecia but I have lupus and my case is Im having hairloss too. Im 24 and a woman then my hair is thinning. It is so scary for me. Im even afraid to look in the mirrror because I could see my thin hair. Im so stressed and the hairloss even make me to count every hair that fall because Im afraid I lost a lot.
Ive been gone on and off having this hairloss and lately Im having it again for almost 2 years. I tried everything but hasnt worked out well. Im thinking since alopecia and lupus is sort of autoimmune disease so the way to solve this problem could be the same.
Lately Ive tried argan oil. It didnt work for my hair but it works on my eyebrows and eyelashes. Maybe you could try this for your son since it is so easy. I just give my eyebrow and eyelashes that argan oil every night. The result isnt instant but few days ago I took a photo of myself and see that my eyebrows look thicker and more black. So maybe this could work.
I heard about anti inflammatory diet too. This looks like the program that your son had. Hope it will work. I still do some research for it because I saw on internet they have different opinions about what should I eat or not. Id like to hear good news from you.thanks
Hi babymilo thank you for your advice I will tell him. We will try anything. My advice to you is give the diet a try. He has grown a few hairs in just 3 weeks so you never know. As laviolad says he feels much better in himself for following this as well. It can't hurt to try. It's like any diet, get to know it and give it a try. It's actually called the alkaline diet. Hope you're feeling better soon 🙂
Thanks everyone. The hairs that grew back have gone again but he has others growing elsewhere. It just seems random at the moment. At least it's a positive sign though that things are still working and there is a chance that it can grow back. Good luck to everyone suffering from this awful condition. Keep faith in whatever remedies you try 🙂
Hi, I'm sierra. I'm 18 and I've suffered from alopecia for twelve years. I can completely relate to your son. Trying to stay positive everyday is difficult but doable. I draw on my eyebrows and wear false eyelashes etc. but I'm also self conscious when I go out, and it can be hard to forget yourself and have fun! You both seem like great people. I've never heard of homeopathy, but it sounds interesting! I might try that.
Hi he tried it with good intentions but it was hard for him to stick to the practically vegan diet. He did have some hair growth and lost it again. It has been a year now since he lost all his hair and there's no real regrowth as yet. We can only hope 🙂
It wasn't that he didn't get enough protein, it was that he didn't carry on with it for long. It's difficult as he doesn't live with me so I can only help him so much with his diet. I'm going to talk to him and try to get him to try again.
It’s been a while since I posted. The homeopathy wasn’t for him unfortunately, it was really hard for him to follow. However we went to India on holiday in January and he had a consultation with an Ayurvedic doctor. The doc seemed to really understand how Alopecia developes and what he said made a lot of sense at the time. Anyway, he gave us a 3 month treatment plan consisting of oils pills and medicine.
My son started using all these on our return home around the middle of February so we are about 2 months in. He has some regrowth mainly on his cheeks but none on his head as yet. We have enough supplies to carry on for another few months so fingers crossed we will see some more regrowth.
It’s worth at try and it wasn’t expensive either, about £26 for everything but only in India. To buy off the internet it’s really expensive and there are some things that I can’t find.
I will update after the 3 months is up. Hopefully with good news
I’m not sure what the pills are they are to detox. Oil for body is malathyadi 2 teaspoonful all over body 30 mins before bath. Oil for hair and face is kesh haryali leave on 5-6 hrs or overnight. The medicine is only taken at bedtime twice a month for 6 weeks and then once a month for 6 weeks drink 60 mls and drink water after. I will find out the names of tablets and medicine and get back to you 😊
Hi good news! 😊 my son has signs of growth!! It’s like all his hair follicles on his head and face have opened up.
The hair on his face has been there a while and is quite strong. He now has to shave every 3-4 days. His top lip is looking shadowy as well as though his moustache is coming. It is just over 2 yrs since he lost all his facial hair and 2 yrs in August since he had to shave his head. He isn’t getting too confident but it’s good to see him smile again as there is hope.
Hi mumofn. It is lovely reading your comments and seeing some regrowrh! Very happy for you and your son! I have been fighting against this terrible illness for too long and i would be very frateful if you could please let me know the name of the medicine it has worked for your son as it would be lovely to have it as a guidance on what to do. Thank you in advance.
We went to Goa on holiday and I took him to see an Ayurvedic doctor who was very good and he gave him a 3 mth course of pills medicine and oils. It cost the equivalent of £26.
We know he could lose it again but it shows his follicles are still working
I think they have it on amazon. Because it is from India I think you will only find it on foreign sites. It’s worth paying the price though. His hair on his head is growing back all over not just in patches. Also he has lots of facial hair and some on his arms and legs. It’s weird but it seems to be coming back in the order it went. Face, arms,legs,head. His eyebrows and lashes were the last to go.
He is also a bit more confident now, he doesn’t wear his hat in public now which is good. We know he could lose it again but the doctors said that if it hadn’t come back in 6-12 months then it probably wouldn’t. This was about 18 mths ago. I do hope you find something that works for you 😊
A quick update 😊 my son has regrowth all over now! His head looks quite patchy but it is dark and light regrowth, rather than bald patches. He now shaved his face regularly and there are eyebrows and lashes coming back. Also some body hair.
So at the moment things are looking quite positive for him 😊🤞🏻
Hi it’s 4 months since I last posted and my sons hair is continuing to grow 😊 he now has hair all over his head although it is patchy but it is thick and dark. Also his facial hair is growing so much he now shaves again. His eyebrows are coming back slowly and he has hairs on his arms and legs. I’m so happy for him 😃
Hi did your son carry on with the Ayurvedic treatment at home by seeing a practitioner in the UK or was it a one of treatment please? It breaks my heart to see my 19
Year old daughter so distressed. AA started Feb 2018. I'm so pleased for your son and your whole family. It's brilliant progress. 😀
He didn’t see anyone else at home. He just used the oils etc from Goa. I went to Greece in September and bought him some olive oil shampoo which he uses as well. I think there are a few Ayurvedic centres in the Uk and I’d advise giving it a try even if it means travelling. Anything’s worth a try. My son is like a different person already. Although he still has a long way to go, it makes such a difference knowing that his hair can grow back after the doctors at home told him there was no hope.
I have just googled and found clinics in leeds, Leicester and Walsall.
I hope your daughter finds something to help her 😊
thank you so much. I will definitely look into this. I'm just so very pleased for you all. It's wonderful that your son has responded well to this treatment. I don't think Joe public have any idea of how this affects a person and all their loved ones. Keep us all updated. Sending lots of love x
Hi it was a course of treatment that he had from Goa. There are a few Ayurvedic clinics in the UK. I’d advise a consultation at one as they all work on the same principles.
Hi mumofn, really pleased for your son and you as I know it is stressful for the parent to see your child suffering. Please could you share the details of the doctor in Goa. My son is 18 and has lost his eyebrows and patches from his head. We are going to India shortly and would like to see the doctor. Thank you very much.
Hi I don’t have details to hand but I can find them. It was an Ayurvedic clinic in colva. I think any Ayurvedic doctor would probably do the same though. It’s worth a try. It’s sbo18 months now since he saw him and he has facial hair and patchy hair on his head. He doesn’t have eyebrows or lashes but we are hopeful they may come in time. He was told he wouldn’t get any back so anything is a bonus. I hope your son finds help 😊
Sorry I’ve been so long in getting back. I can’t find the details of the doc but if you call at an Ayurvedic clinic/pharmacy ask for a consultation. It’s really cheap in Goa
Quick update- his hair on his head is quite thick and black. Still patchy but plenty of it. He still uses the olive oil shampoo. No eyebrows or eyelashes yet but plenty of other facial hair. I’ve told him to stick with natural products such as the shampoo as these seem to boost growth.
It’s about 5 years now since he had the 1st sign if alopecia which was a small patch in his beard. I’m so proud of him and how he’s coped with it all. Fingers crossed that it keeps on improving.
Never give up hope and remember that what works for one may not work for another. 😊
I went to some of the best ones in London because I was so desperate. Ustilago Maydis is the key one they plug. Didn’t do anything for me in the slightest. I don’t believe in alternative medicine really, Having said that, the Bach flower extracts you can buy do really calm your nerves. Not sure if that is because they are preserved in a light alcohol base though!
I am AU too, perhaps given his age, he shouldn’t risk something internal. Perhaps ask the Dr’s/specialists opinion on minoxidil, clobetasol ointment and contact sensitisation.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Alopecia 
Inconclusive biopsy for possible scarring hair loss alopecia 
Have I got Alopecia?
Frontal fibrosing alopecia
