What is stress-related alopecia and how is it treated as Paloma Faith shares story

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Paloma Faith has revealed she suffers from a form of hair loss related to stress, and says her hair regularly falls out when she’s anxious.The singer, 42, says her body starts ‘eating itself’ when she doesn’t address her feelings, and she sees a therapist regularly to manage her emotions.“If I’m stressed at work, if it’s emotional, my hair starts falling out,” she told the Great Company with Jamie Laing podcast. “And it’s something to do with the body kind of starts eating itself, if you don’t release those feelings.

So it’s really important that you do.” Amy Johnson, communications manager at Alopecia UK, has alopecia herself, and explains that the term ‘alopecia’ simply means hair loss.

She points out: “It’s not clear what type of alopecia Paloma is experiencing – ‘stress-related alopecia’ isn’t a medical term we recognise.” Dermatologist Dr Leila Asfour of the British Association of Dermatologists says the link between stress and alopecia hasn’t been proven, but there are some theories on how stress might contribute to hair loss based on animal studies. “Stress hormones such as cortisol affect our bodies in lots of ways,” she says, explaining that stress affects the hair follicle’s stem cells in mice, which can then disrupt the hair cycle.She says stress has been suggested as a possible trigger for two common types of hair loss called telogen effluvium and alopecia areata.“We all shed hair every day,” she says, “but people with telogen effluvium shed more than usual.

There are lots of triggers for this type of hair loss, one of which is stress. People often experience telogen effluvium after illness, severe trauma, or stressful life events.”She says alopecia areata is another common cause of hair loss, which usually