C.C.C.A. is a scarring alopecia. A scarring
form of hair loss and it stands for concentric centrifugal cicatricial alopecia. So concentric
means it’s in the center top of the head, centrifugal means it spreads out on equally
on both sides onto the top of the head, cicatricial means scar and alopecia just means
hair loss. So this is a form of scarring hair loss that is very particular to the African-American
female patient population. And what it is or the cause is, there’s a genetic component to it
and there’s also a hair styling component to it. So the hair styling component to it you can
control, the genetic parts you can’t.
So the hair styling component is caused by use of hot combs
or really hot hairstyling tools that when applied close to the scalp, that heat has a detrimental
effect on the scalp of the skin and that heat penetrates the skin and affects the hair follicle
cells negatively. As well as chemical relaxers. The chemicals can be left on the scalp too long
or just the chronic use of chemical relaxers over time that chemical being applied to the scalp
diffuses into the skin and affects the hair follicle cells and potentially eventually kills
them and hair will no longer grow. The importance to early recognition of CCCA is that if you catch
it early you can prevent it from becoming worse and potentially even get your hair to regrow. So
the symptoms of CCCA can be maybe just a little bit of an itch up there or it can have a burning
sensation or a tingling sensation or your mom’s walking past you one day and says it looks like
you’re getting a little thin up there on the top or you’re getting sunburns on the top of your
head where you’ve never experienced a sunburn on the top of your head before.
It’s really
important to reach out to your dermatologist at that point to see them so that it can be diagnosed
because it does require a biopsy for diagnosis, you can’t just look at it. Now there’s a high
degree of clinical suspicion for the condition when you’re observing it but it does need a
biopsy for confirmation and if it is C.C.C.A. then you can undergo some topical and injectable
treatment solutions that can potentially decrease that inflammatory process that’s
going on underneath the surface of the skin and if there are surviving hair follicles
left under there you may get regrowth. So it’s important to catch it early because if you
don’t catch it early, it will continue to advance to where it gets to the point where you can see
it very clearly, everyone else can see it very clearly and you’re past the point of being able to
disguise it with the remaining hair that you have. If you’re past the point because you’ve
waited too long, it would be really good to give a call to HairClub because they have a
lot of treatment solutions for your condition.