I have noticed patches of hair loss in my beard and few more in my scalp

Hi I have had alopecia for over 10 years. Doctors have been stumped, finally I went to a dermatologist and he is prescribing me a pill and some topical stuff. I’ve been taking vitamins the past 4 years and slowly seeing more hair growth, I’ve been doing a lot of research on my own, hope my hair grows back completely someday. 

I've had alopecia for about 10 or more years. My first bout was about a 50% loss of hair on my head. Since I had such a tremendous loss my dermatologist gave me injections of steroids in my butt for three months in a row. This was such a high dose of steroids that my GP would not do it and it had to be my dermatologist to do it. Between the injections and the stuff she gave me to rub into the areas including minoxidil eventually my hair grew back. It grew back white and I have brown hair but it eventually turn brown too.

Since then I get patches now and then and I go into the dermatologist and get injections all around the bald spot. Nothing to rub onto the bald spots just the injections and my hair grows back. I'm a woman and I keep my hair long and and my hair is naturally thick so I can usually cover the spots up with my hair.

You might ask about the steroid injections that go directly into the bald spot. I don't remember what the name of the chemical was that they injected. I'm sorry about that. Good luck to you I hope you don't have a complete loss of hair as that is going to be frustrating even for a man. I will say it's devastating for a woman.

Use of Steroids is not good for hair growth and scalp. Please think twice before taking any medication. 

Change your lifestyle and go to a Doctor for a better solution. 

Using better shampoos and conditioners is not going to make any difference at all. that's because your hair is not breaking off it's because the hair follicle is damaged because of the autoimmune disorder of alopecia areata. So unless those hair follicles are stimulated they will not function. That is why it needs to come internally. Did your doctor give you a steroid cream to rub in the spots? When I had the greatest amount of hair loss and she could not give me injections in my scalp she gave me a steroid foam to rub on to the bald spots. I also used minoxidil on my scalp. In combination with those two things she gave me an injection in my butt of steroid. And that shot was once a month for 3 months.

And I just want to say that living a healthier life is not going to affect your hair growth unless you do illegal drugs or you're receiving some type of treatment such as chemotherapy that has a known hair loss expectation. And even then your hair would not fall out in patches it would be a all over thinning. Steroids do not hinder hair growth. Steroids are a very common treatment for autoimmune disorders of all kinds of nature. And yes I agree that steroids are very hard on the body but the small amount you get each month is not going to have a huge impact on your body or your health.