Alopecia, also known as Da-ul-Asad or Da-ul-Saleb in Arabic, and Balkhora in Urdu, can be caused by a diverse group of rare disorders of the hair bearing regions of the human body. It may damage or destroy the hair follicle and cause hair loss temporarily or permanently. In some cases it may lead to replacement of the affected area with scar tissue and even fibrosis. Alopecia most often affects the scalp and beard, but may occur on any hairy part of the body.
There are two types of Alopecia: (a) Alopecia Areata (generally non-scarring and is usually reversible) – hair follicles remain intact in this case, and (b) Cicatricial Alopecia (generally leaves scarring and is usually irreversible) – symptoms may include fibrosis, inflammation, and loss of hair follicles.
Symptoms
Typical first symptoms of Alopecia Areata are small bald patches. The underlying skin is unscarred and looks superficially normal. Although these patches can take many shapes, they are usually round or oval.
Causes
Modern Herbal medicine approach to Alopecia is slightly different than non Unani medicine. While it agrees that immune system anomalies due to various reasons such as genetics, hormonal imbalances, stress, and etc., are responsible for such a disorder, the triggers behind it might be non conventional. These may include a combination of poor hygiene, certain non Unani drug treatment side effects, intake of certain food items, and etc. In case of women, its onset may be preceded by menstrual irregularities also.
Management and Treatment
Hakeem Syed Muhammad Rehan Alam’s family has been successfully treating all kinds of reversible Alopecia disorders for more than 88 years. It is one of the signature treatments offered by Hakeem Rehan’s family and their expertise in this field is well known. Hakeem Rehan has a specific way of approaching diagnosis and treatment. Patient history, pulse analysis, and Qaroora (urine inspection) help the Tabib narrow down the root cause (such as trauma, infection, heredity, and relevant humor imbalances). Whenever necessary, we do make use of modern lab tests in arriving at and confirming diagnosis and in monitoring of treatment progress. Our treatment plan is very simple. Keeping in mind patient’s mezaj, patient is then immediately put on a strict dietary plan coupled with 10-16 week Unani medication drug regimen consisting of various processed and unprocessed herbs and etc., in the form of Herbal tea, madjoon (paste), and Sufoof (powder).
