Marissa is 14 years old and arrives at the physician's office with her mother. Marissa lost a large part of the hair on her head. She denies any recent illnesses, or travel outside of the country. Examination of the scalp shows that the bald patches are smooth with noticeable hair. There is a family history of alopecia; both her mother and her grandmother had issues with it when they were in their teens. The doctor did decide to run an ANA test to rule out any autoimmune issues, though he expected the results to be negative. He diagnosed Marissa with alopecia areata and prescribed topical corticosteroids. He counseled Marissa about alopecia areata, and assured her that in almost all cases, the hair does grow back. He told her to call him if she had any questions and told Marissa's mother to watch for signs of depression, or other psychological impacts of the hair loss. He asked Marissa to see him in three months, or sooner if she started losing eyebrow hair, eyelashes, or public hair, as that could indicate alopecia universalis, as opposed to the alopecia areata. First-listed diagnosis: Additional diagnoses:
(a) Large buttress roots in a tropical rain forest
Aerial and close-up views of a large biodiversity experiment in Cedar Creek, Minnesota. Each of the
(a) Feeding by bear on salmon results in large allochthonous inputs of nutrients into (b) the forest
Karen McCoy, Considering Mother's Mantle
The apples of today are larger and sweeter than their ancestors, thanks to hundreds of years