Following the Chris Rock-Will Smith slap incident at the Oscars 2022, where Rock made fun of Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s medical condition Alopecia, actress Sameera Reddy has now opened up about struggling with Alopecia, a condition which leads to loss of hair.
In a post that she put out on social media, Reddy spoke about how two years back her husband spotted a bald spot on her head. While she was treated and the spot when away, she was diagnosed with Alopecia and it can come back anytime.
“The current #oscar controversy made me want to shed light that we all have our individual battles we are fighting and healing from and we need to create a positive safe space for one other What Is Alopecia Areata? It is an auto immune disease. When you have Alopecia Areata, cells in your immune system surround and attack your hair follicles. This causes the attached hair to fall out that causes patches of bald spots. I got diagnosed with it in 2016 when Akshai saw I had a 2-inch bald spot at the back of my head. In one month I discovered two more patches. It was really hard to deal with. Alopecia Areata does not make people sick, nor is it contagious. It can, however, be difficult to adapt to emotionally (sic),” she wrote.
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She added, “For many people, Alopecia Areata is a traumatic disease that warrants treatment addressing the emotional aspect of hair loss, as well as the hair loss itself. The doctor told me that in most cases the hair can grow back and with Corticosteroids injections in the scalp my three patches grew back slowly. But I’m very aware there is no cure. And there is no particular reason why a person gets Alopecia Areata. Other types of alopecia are—alopecia totalis (when entire scalp turns bald); alopecia ophiasis (when even the hair loss is also on occipital, temporal, and parietal regions of the scalp); and alopecia universalis (when the hair loss happens across the entire body) And though right now I have healthy hair with no patches (that I am grateful for everyday) I’ve been told I have to be aware it can come back at any point in my life. I do take homeopathy and I holistically hope to keep it at bay. In this fast paced world I pray people will pause, reflect and be sensitive to each other #healing #positive #imperfectlyperfect #alopeciaareata (sic).”
Jada Pinkett Smith has always been very vocal about her illness. She was diagnosed with Alopecia in 2018. In fact, she even spoke about shaving her head in a video that she posted on social media last year. “Mama’s gonna have to take it down to the scalp so nobody thinks she got brain surgery or something. Me and this alopecia are going to be friends period! (sic),” she wrote.
