Alopecia barbae or beard hair loss is a disease that makes it just as difficult for men to deal with as hereditary balding. However, this form of baldness issue affects the beard and does not follow a common pattern: when and where bald spots appear is unpredictable.

On the other hand, it is certain that all the hair on the affected spots will fail: these spots are as shiny as a clean-shaven. Read more about this treacherous hair loss disorder.

The technical term for visible hair loss is alopecia – and barbae stands for the beard. If whiskers fail in bursts, leaving behind circular coin-sized bald spots, this is most likely a special hair loss disorder.

The alopecia can affect the beard on the temples or cheeks, upper lip, chin, or neck area. No hairy face and neck are freed from spontaneous beard failure.

From a medical point of view, beard hair loss is a subspecies of the so-called circular hair loss (technical term: alopecia areata). This disease is similar to its beard counterpart but affects all areas of the body.

To summarize the three most common hair loss types are :

Androgenetic or Hereditary Hair Loss
Circular hair loss/alopecia areata
Diffuse hair loss
Hereditary hair loss is not a disease in the narrower sense, but a genetically related hormonal condition. In men, it appears much more visible, as age advances. Here the hair starts falling out on the forehead, followed by the upper and back of the head.

In women, hereditary hair loss usually occurs in the apex area (top of the skull). In the case of diffuse hair loss, the hair density generally decreases thus becoming thinner. Causes can include stress, lack of nutrients, infections, or taking certain medications.

The third form is considered an autoimmune disease – the circular alopecia, which can also affect the beard: Alopecia or alopecia barbae is directly caused by a disturbance of the body’s defenses.

The occurrence of these hairless “holes” in the otherwise flat beard – is based on an autoimmune event. The reasons for this have not yet been fully clarified.

The triggers that cause the immune system to suddenly get confused are not well understood. What is clear is that the body’s own defense system is not directed against outside pathogens as usual, but rather against its own cells.

In this case, against healthy beard hair cells in sharply circumscribed zones. Immune cells direct the hair follicles directly, cause inflammation and weaken them so that the beard growth comes to a standstill.

According to current knowledge, there is a certain degree of hereditary disposition which promotes the occurrence of circular alopecia on the beard and on other areas. Beard hair loss is more likely to occur if others from your family also are affected by it.

In addition, every tenth person with Down syndrome also suffers from circular hair loss. This corresponds to a noticeable five to ten times higher incidence than in the average population.

In contrast to genetic factors, mental factors and various external influences are the main causes of this disease. A shortlist of possible causes of the occurrence of alopecia on the beard:

Family hereditary predisposition
Down syndrome
Emotional stress
Malnutrition
Medicines, alcohol, chemicals

This category of circular hair loss can in principle affect persons of both sexes at any age.

The causes of beard hair loss are relatively unknown. On one hand, the beard growth area occupies only a small area segment of the total body area. On the other hand, this special type of alopecia is naturally limited to male adults.

There is a need for action at the latest when fingernail-sized beardless patches emerge and these expand to coin size, possibly even sprout up several adjacent spots and merge into a single larger bald spot.

Whether full beard, three-day beard, sideburns, or mustache: beard bearers are cultivated with the appropriate dedication. But when gaps appear unexpectedly in the beard, urgent advice is required.

The circular beard hair loss can usually be detected quickly. Plucking tests on the edges of affected areas typically show that the hair on the outside of the bald spots can easily be pulled out. It is usually unnecessary to perform more elaborate diagnostic procedures such as scalp biopsy.

The good news for beard hair loss sufferers is a relatively high spontaneous healing rate. Often the destructive immune cells stop their activity abruptly and the beard will eventually grow back.

If this is not the case, zinc supplements can help re-regulate the immune system. Cortisone injections or creams containing this substance are often used against alopecia barber.

Should the disease persist, topical immunotherapy is an interesting treatment option. In this quite complex therapy, allergic dermatitis is deliberately created to “occupy” the immune cells away from the hair follicles.

However, the success rates of the aforementioned treatment are hardly higher than the spontaneous healing. If conventional therapeutic approaches fail, a beard hair transplant can fill up the bald spots with natural hair. This option is becoming more and more popular with alopecia areata in the beard area.

“A man without a beard is like a crustless bread.” This is a saying from Latvia. Beard bearers haunted by alopecia barbae will usually shave off their precious “crust” completely. This temporary option is indeed efficient at hiding unwanted bald patches.

Nevertheless, after just a few hours, those bald spots become visible again. This localized hair loss occurs unexpectedly and often disappears just as spontaneously. The causes of the disease are thus largely unexplained, similar to other types of autoimmune diseases.

If there is no spontaneous healing and none of the common forms of therapy works, then a beard hair transplant is the solution. With the hair implantation, healthy self-hair follicles are transplanted to the bald spots.