Lupus Symptoms; 10 Warning Signs and Symptoms of Lupus

Loss of hair

In (SLE), hair starts getting thinner, and eventually, the patient suffers from severe hair loss, which is known as alopecia. Doctors link this hair loss to the severe inflammation of the skin in the scalp. The patient’s hair would be brittle and look a bit shabby. Hair loss can be either temporary or permanent. Temporary hair loss is due to mild lupus flares, and proper treatment would usually help the hair to grow back on patient’s scalp, but permanent hair loss is one the most devastating consequences of the disease. 50-60% of patient suffer from this symptom, and it is considered one of the earliest manifestations of this dreadful disease.

Scalp hair is mostly lost in clumps. Other areas that are commonly affected are beard, eyebrows, and eyelashes. Hair loss due to lupus can be due to the destruction of hair follicles as a result of severe inflammation. Research has revealed that discoid scarring is most commonly associated with alopecia.