What Causes Baldness in Children?

While baldness is commonly associated with older men, it can also afflict children as well, resulting in complete or partial hair loss. There are various causes of baldness in children, including medications, infections, psychological problems, and generalized health problems such as malnutrition. In most cases the loss of hair can eventually be reversed, but there are cases in which baldness will be either long term or permanent.

One of the most common things that can result in baldness in children is tinea capitis, usually referred to as ringworm of the scalp. This condition is not actually caused by a worm, but is a fungal infection that gets into the hair follicles and causes the hair to fall out or break off in different places on the head. A scalp injury or a lack of hygiene can make a child susceptible to this problem, and because it is contagious it can also be passed from one child to another as well as from a pet, particularly a cat, to a child. It can be very difficult to eradicate but often is resolved by the onset of puberty.

Children who are undergoing treatment for cancer may also have to deal with hair loss. Chemotherapy is generally well-known as a cause of baldness in children and adults, but once the chemotherapy drugs are stopped the hair will usually grow back. Cancer patients that get radiation treatments may also lose their hair, particularly if the head is involved, but this type of hair loss is often unavoidably permanent.

In some cases alopecia areata, an immune system disorder, can cause the body to attack itself and result in baldness in children who are afflicted with the problem. The effects of this condition appear to come and go, and much of the time the hair loss is neither total nor permanent, though it can last for many years. Adults as well as children suffer from this, but it often begins in childhood.

There are some cases of baldness in children that are related to various psychological disorders; trichotillomania is one of the most common. Children afflicted with this problem tend to pull on their hair, not only on the scalp but also the eyebrows and eyelashes, and sometimes on other places on the body as well, typically leaving large bald patches. This condition is relatively benign and is thought to be related to anxiety or stress, but can also be nothing more than a habit that needs to be broken. Once the hair-pulling stops, the hair normally re-grows without any long-term effects.

Baldness in children who are malnourished results from a lack of nutrients to support hair growth. Whether or not this situation can be corrected over time depends on the severity of the problem and how long the child has suffered from the condition. Malnutrition does not always cause total baldness, but may result in thin, patchy hair that eventually stops growing.