What is alopecia, the disorder that Chris Rock mocked at the 2022 Oscars?

Comic Chris Rock joked about actress Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia — a medical situation that results in hair loss — incomes him an open-handed smack across the face from Smith’s husband, Will Smith, on the Oscars.

Throughout his acceptance speech on Sunday for profitable in one of the best actor class for his efficiency in King Richard, Will Smith apologized to the academy and the comic.

Rock is not filing criminal charges against Smith, in keeping with the Los Angeles Police Division. The academy tweeted on Sunday that it “doesn’t condone violence of any kind.”

The incident, along with making Oscars historical past in dramatic vogue, additionally shined a light-weight on Jada Pinkett Smith’s situation. She went public about her hair loss in 2018.

Listed below are some details concerning the autoimmune dysfunction.

What are the various kinds of alopecia?

There are a number of sorts of alopecia, which in Latin means “hair loss.” Androgenic alopecia, for instance, is widespread and is often known as male- or female-pattern baldness, in keeping with the Nationwide Library of Drugs web site.

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune dysfunction that causes patches of hair to fall out, in keeping with the web site. Normally, the situation impacts the scalp, however it may well additionally result in hair loss in different elements of the the physique. In some circumstances the situation can result in hair loss on all the scalp.

The reason for alopecia areata just isn’t properly understood, in keeping with the web site, however is probably going affected by a mixture of things, corresponding to adjustments within the genes associated to hair and pores and skin, and the immune system. The situation impacts women and men equally, the web site states.

As a result of the situation impacts an individual’s bodily look, it may well result in psychological and emotional points, corresponding to melancholy and nervousness.

What’s central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia?

Central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA) is a kind of hair loss that leaves scarring on the scalp, and a few analysis has indicated that the situation affects many Black women.

In a 2016 study by the American Academy of Dermatology, Dr. Yolanda M. Lenzy discovered that 40.9% of the 5,594 Black girls who had been topics of the examine reported hair loss that matches the signs of CCCA.

Lenzy additionally wrote that the situation is closely under-diagnosed as a result of sufferers didn’t know they need to seek the advice of a dermatologist concerning their hair loss.

Just like alopecia areata, researchers imagine CCCA is attributable to a mixture of things, together with genetics, bacterial and fungal infections, in keeping with a 2020 article within the Journal of the American Medical Association Dermatology. The article states that extra analysis is required to grasp the elements that contribute to CCCA.

A mixture of things corresponding to infections (bacterial and fungal), genetics, autoimmune illness, and different unknown elements could play a task on this illness. Extra analysis is required to grasp the extent to which all or any of those elements contribute to the event of CCCA.

Early indicators of the situation embrace reducing hair quantity and the lack of patches of hair that don’t regrow, in keeping with Lenzy. CCCA may trigger irritation, itching and tingling, in keeping with the examine’s findings.

Can alopecia be handled?

Based on the 2020 Journal of the American Medical Affiliation article, gentle circumstances of CCCA could be handled with a topical steroid remedy or with corticosteroid injections within the scalp.

Extra extreme circumstances could also be handled by combining strategies and with oral remedy that suppresses the immune system, in keeping with the article.

Remedies for alopecia areata embrace steroid injections to areas of hair loss, which suppress immune system cells and permits for hair to regrow, in keeping with a fact sheet on the Yale Medicine website.

Prior to now, topical irritants have been used on sufferers identified with alopecia areata. Irritants trigger rash and irritation, which in keeping with the actual fact sheet, “appears to distort the immune system’s assault on the hair follicles.” The actual fact sheet described one of these remedy as “disagreeable for the affected person.”