My father has suddenly lost his hair piece by piece recently. What is the reason?

It should be alopecia areata. Alopecia areata is a kind of alopecia, commonly known as "ghost shaving". In the ancient books of Chinese medicine, there used to be such names as oil wind, hair pulling, hair falling, hair falling and ghost adding. There are three types of alopecia: alopecia areata, alopecia totalis and alopecia universalis. Their etiology and treatment are basically the same, but the degree of clinical manifestations is different. 【 Clinical manifestations 】 Alopecia areata often occurs suddenly without any warning. Patients often have no conscious symptoms and are at a loss because of their suddenness. The first alopecia area can be born in any part of the human body, but it is easy to occur in the head. On the scalp, or eyebrows, beard, and so on. It is estimated that the incidence of alopecia areata in the population is less than 0.1%; About 95% of alopecia areata patients have lesions confined to the scalp. Alopecia areata often manifests as independent and limited hair shedding, round or oval, with clear edges and a diameter of 1 ~ 2 cm or more. The bald skin is smooth and shiny, without obvious atrophy, but pores can still be seen, which makes the surrounding hair not easy to fall off, the roots of the fallen hair become thinner, and the hair balls shrink, which can form an exclamation mark. . If the number of lesions increases gradually, adjacent lesions can be merged into patches with different sizes and irregular shapes. At the initial stage of recovery, soft, yellow and white hair can be seen in the affected area, which gradually becomes thick and black, and finally returns to normal. Alopecia areata has a long course of disease, most of which can be cured, and a few patients can relapse after recovery. If the disease continues to develop, the skin lesions can involve the whole head, or even all the hair will fall off. At this time, the scalp can still maintain its normal appearance, that is, it is completely bald. In severe cases, the whole body hair falls off, including eyebrows, eyelashes, beard, armpit hair, pubic hair and body hair. This condition is called alopecia universalis. In male patients with alopecia areata, about 10% may have alopecia universalis. Clinical alopecia areata can be divided into three stages according to the development of the disease. (1) Progressive stage: the damage scope of hair and skin is expanding day by day. On the skin with normal appearance around alopecia areata area, the hair is loose and easy to fall off. (2) Static period: Generally, after 3-4 months, alopecia areata can stop developing and remain unchanged for a long time, and the hair attachment around the alopecia area is quite firm. (3) Recovery period: Hair begins to grow in the alopecia area. Some patients may have dizziness, itching, low back pain, tinnitus, dizziness and other symptoms. Doctors can find that a few early patients can see erythema and edema in baldness, and the hair follicle mouth is clearly visible. 【 Pathological analysis 】 At present, the pathogenesis of alopecia areata is not completely clear. Most people are caused by mental stress and physical fatigue, but some people don't have these reasons. Medically, it has something to do with autoimmunity. Its etiology is unknown, but it is characterized by depression and endocrine disorders. It is often easy to cause this disease. The disease can cause dysfunction of subcortical center and autonomic nerve due to dysfunction of higher nerve center, cause dermal papilla vasospasm and hair malnutrition, and thus lead to alopecia. If you are subjected to intense mental stimulation and fatigue, you may suddenly get sick or get worse. For alopecia areata with allergic background, it may be autoimmune disease. In addition to vasculitis and perivascular inflammation in the dermis, vasculitis also exists in the vascular branches of hair follicles, and the blood vessels are destroyed, resulting in a decrease in vascular network and insufficient blood supply, leading to hair loss. Immunological research shows that this alopecia areata can appear anti-thyroglobulin, anti-adrenal cells, anti-thyroid cells and other antibodies, but there is no anti-hair follicle antibody, so it is considered as autoimmune vasculitis alopecia. At present, it is not certain that alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease, but it may be accompanied by autoimmune diseases, which is temporarily effective for corticosteroids, which at least suggests that autoimmune factors may be involved in some cases. In addition, endocrine disorders, focal infections, intestinal parasites, etc. It may also be a pathogenic factor. [Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine] The classic work of Chinese medicine "On Diseases and Pathogens" wrote: "People have wind pathogens and exist in their heads. When you are weak, you will lose your hair, your muscles will be necrotic, or you will have a lot of money, or your fingers will be big, and you will not be itchy and lick your head for ghosts. " The ghost licking mentioned by the ancients refers to a lot of hair loss. The place where it falls off is either the size of money or the size of the belly of the finger. The affected area is neither painful nor itchy. At the same time, the ancients also knew that ghosts licking their heads were not caused by ghosts, but wind evil invaded the weak human body. Once wind evil invades the head, the lack of yang in the head will lead to hair loss. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that this disease is mostly caused by young people, and blood heat is abundant, followed by irritability, frustration of seven emotions, prolonged stagnation of fire, intense heat, strong wind, "wind leaves falling" and baldness. Therefore, teenagers suffer from this disease, mostly caused by internal heat, and its treatment should also be based on clearing heat and cooling blood, expelling wind and promoting hair growth. Never take tonic for nothing. Otherwise, the more you make up, the hotter you get, and the more you fall. Mental and emotional changes are one of the important causes of this disease, which is consistent with traditional Chinese and western medicine. As long as you try to maintain emotional stability and get enough sleep in your daily life, you can at least prevent mental stimulation and excessive fatigue. The treatment of alopecia areata can be taken orally, externally and dietotherapy. [Western medicine treatment] First of all, according to the area of baldness, if the area is small, just use external drugs, external hormone potions, or fresh ginger juice to stimulate the growth of hair follicles, and generally hair can grow in 3-6 months; If the area is large, oral hormone, prednisone 15-30mg per day, can be gradually reduced. Hair usually grows out within 2 months, but because this medicine has certain side effects, it needs to be taken under the guidance of a doctor. In addition, multivitamins and some traditional Chinese medicines, such as Polygonum multiflorum Thunb., also have the function of adjuvant therapy. [Chinese medicine treatment] Chinese medicine has long recognized hair loss. In addition to the liver storing blood, the hair is blood, and the kidney dominates the bone, which is related to kidney deficiency and blood deficiency. In recent years, there is a theory of blood stasis, so the treatment of alopecia is mainly to tonify kidney, nourish blood and promote blood circulation. Its branches of traditional Chinese medicine are roughly heart-qi deficiency, liver-kidney deficiency, liver depression and blood stasis, and deficiency of both qi and blood. Patients can be treated by doctors based on syndrome differentiation, such as nourishing blood and blood, nourishing liver and kidney, invigorating spleen and qi, nourishing blood and cooling blood, soothing the liver and regulating qi, and arresting astringency and dredging collaterals.