In a candid interview with the Daily Mail recently, the model and actress Danielle Lineker has opened up about her battle with alopecia when she was just a teenager.

Danielle, 31, used to be known simply for being the much younger wife of the former footballer Gary Lineker, who is now a popular TV sports presenter. She has now carved out a career of her own in modelling, TV and theatre, but she wasn’t always so confident.

Admitting she was extremely shy as a teenager, Danielle says that she was trying to overcome it when she developed alopecia at age 17. The condition is likely to have been triggered by the stress of her A-level course. She says:

“I felt overwhelmed by my A-levels. I was the first person in my family who’d done them and I didn’t want to let them down. That’s when the alopecia started.

“I lost most of the hair on top of my head for about seven months. I had a bald patch on top and I had to resort to an embarrassing “comb-over” and coloured in any gaps with eyeliner. I don’t know if it was a subconscious thing to do with my studies.”

Danielle has now overcome her female hair loss condition, which she claims is due to a positive outlook and the support of her husband and family.

There are many different kinds of hair loss treatment available these days, some of them painful and expensive (i.e. certain kinds of hair transplants) and others less so. These treatments have varying success rates, as they depend of course on the patient and their particular hair loss condition.

Not everyone wants to put themselves through hair loss treatment, however, which is why there are many alternatives available. These include:

• Human hair wigs – These wigs have come a long way in the last few years, meaning they are now so realistic that no one will be able to tell you’re wearing one. They are comfortable to wear and you can choose from hundreds of styles to suit you.

• The Intralace System – This is a hair replacement treatment, but one that works similarly to hair extensions. A breathable mesh is fitted between your existing hair and your scalp, allowing additional human hair to be added. It looks natural, is made of breathable materials and can be washed and styled as normal.

• Medi Connections – Similarly to other methods, Medi Connections are a kind of very fine hair extensions used to cover smaller areas of thinning or balding.

• Head bandannas and wraps – Some people prefer to keep things as simple as possible, choosing a colourful, attractive wrap or bandanna to cover their heads whilst their hair grows back.

You may have heard of telogen effluvium, in which emotional or physiological stress can cause the hair to rapidly thin or fall out completely, but you may not know be as familiar with the hair loss condition known as anagen effluvium.

Put simply, anagen effluvium is the rapid loss of anagen hair (hair follicles in the active growth phase) caused by cancer treatments such as systemic chemotherapy and radiation therapy (to the head).

This pathological hair loss is caused by the aggressive chemicals used to treat cancer, particularly treatments which use alkylating agents. The hair loss is often patchy at first, but becomes near total hair loss after numerous treatments. Many other drugs and medicines, often those used to treat common illnesses and diseases, can also cause anagen effluvium hair loss.

Hair regrowth

The good news for sufferers of anagen effluvium is that after the course of treatment is finished and chemicals are not introduced to the body any longer, the hair usually starts to grow back. It can take approximately six months for the first signs of hair regrowth to emerge, although this may of course vary from patient to patient.

Anagen effluvium is the pathologic loss of anagen hairs, classically caused by radiation therapy to the head and systemic chemotherapy, especially with alkylating agents.

We have already looked at alopecia areata and alopecia totalis, the two most common types of the hair loss condition known as alopecia, in which hair loss is restricted to the scalp or to small patches on the body. We now move on to the most dramatic and emotionally devastating variety of the hair loss condition – alopecia universalis.

Alopecia universalis is the most severe form of hair loss, involving the total loss of hair from all parts of the body, including the eyelashes and eyebrows. This onset of this condition often occurs rapidly, which can be very distressing for most sufferers.

The cause of alopecia universalis is believed to be an autoimmune disorder, in which the body attacks the hair follicles. The condition can afflict anyone of any age, and factors such as emotional stress and genetics are often named as triggers. This is the same way that researchers believe that alopecia areata and alopecia totalis are caused.

If you suffer from alopecia universalis – and an estimated 1 in 100,000 people do – you are not alone. There have been numerous well-known sufferers, such as the British comedian Matt Lucas, former Olympic swimmer Duncan Goodhew, NBA basketball player Charlie Villanueva and Australian racing driver Dean Canto.

As you may know, alopecia is a hair loss condition which can cause some or all of the hair to fall out on the scalp and all over the body. There are three main types – alopecia areata, alopecia totalis and alopecia universalis. No matter which of the three varieties of the condition a sufferer has, alopecia can be both frightening and debilitating.

After looking at the main points of alopecia areata, we will now focus our attention on the next most serious condition.

Alopecia totalis

Whilst alopecia areata involves the loss of hair in small patches, alopecia totalis is the term used to describe the total loss of hair on the scalp. This autoimmune condition – in which the body attacks the hair follicles and stops hair from growing – often also involves the sufferer losing all facial hair, eyelashes and eyebrows.

The most famous alopecia totalis sufferer at the moment is TV presenter Gail Porter, who lost her trademark blonde hair five years ago after going through a divorce and post-natal depression. Although she still occasionally experiences some setbacks, her hair is now in the process of growing back.

Alopecia is a hair loss condition which shows itself in varying degrees of seriousness. The most common forms of this hair loss condition are alopecia areata, alopecia totalis and alopecia universalis.

Alopecia areata

This is where hair falls out in small patches at any part of the body, although it mainly occurs on the scalp. There are different classifications of alopecia areata, such as:

• Diffuse alopecia areata – where the hair falls out diffusely over the whole of the scalp
• Alopecia areata monolocularis – where baldness occurs in just one spot
• Alopecia areata multilocularis – where hair falls out in multiple areas on the scalp

The condition, like alopecia totalis and universalis, is believed to be a kind of auto-immune disease, where the body attacks the hair follicles and restricts the growth of hair. After this has happened, research suggests that T cell lymphocytes (white blood cells) gather around the damaged follicles and cause them to become inflamed. This unfortunately leads to further hair loss for the sufferer.

The onset of this kind of condition can often be triggered by environmental causes such as emotional stress or trauma, but hereditary factors can also play a part.