Alopecia: What is the hair condition that prompted Will Smith’s aggression towards Chris Rock at the Oscars

The Oscars 2022 ceremony was marked by the aggression of actor Will Smith against Chris Rock during the most important awards in cinema.

Chris was slapped in the face after Will Smith was angered by the actor’s comment about Pinkett Smith, who has a shaved head due to alopecia, a hair condition that causes hair loss.

While presenting the ceremony, Chris Rock compared Smith’s wife to the protagonist of “The Edge of Honor” (1997), played by Demi Moore, who shaved her hair – the film is about the first woman to participate in strength training. of special operations of the United States Navy.

After Chris Rock’s comment, Will Smith left his seat in the audience, climbed onto the stage, slapped the comedian in the face and returned to his seat.

“I think Will Smith just spanked me,” Rock said, midway through an expletive.

“Keep my wife’s name out of your mouth,” shouted Smith, also amid expletives.

Los Angeles Police said they have not received any official complaints about the incident. Chris Rock has yet to comment.

What is alopecia?

Alopecia is one of the most common problems related to hair or hair loss among men and women anywhere on the body. It can be caused by genetic influences, local inflammatory processes or systemic diseases.

One of the most common types of alopecia isata areata, which is an autoimmune disease — when cells attack the body itself. It affects approximately 2% of the world’s population at different levels – it can affect from small areas of the scalp or beard, through circular lesions, or even cause the complete absence of wires throughout the body.

Another common type of alopecia is androgenetic, which is also autoimmune and causes progressive thinning of the hair. It is more common among men, whose most affected areas are the crown and frontal region (entries).

Women — an estimated 5% have androgenetic alopecia — suffer from symptoms, which are usually more discreet, such as hair loss in the central region of the scalp. In their case, periods of intense fall may be related to menstrual irregularity, acne or obesity.

The condition is not contagious and presents no health risks, in addition to hair loss itself. According to the SBD (Brazilian Society of Dermatology), cases of total hair loss in the body due to alopecia are a minority: around 5%.

Hair loss in people with some type of alopecia can be intensified by emotional factors such as intense stress.

But hair loss is not restricted to alopecia. Experts point out that the situation can occur for specific reasons such as the exaggerated use of chemical processes in the hair, diets, consumption of certain medications and diseases that affect other areas of the body, such as hypothyroidism.

How to solve hair loss?

According to the SBD, there is no way to prevent alopecia because it is a disease whose causes are unknown. But there are some guidelines to try to avoid intense hair loss, such as reducing stress whenever possible.

There are several alternatives to treat hair loss caused by alopecia. However, because it is an autoimmune disease, there is no definitive treatment to prevent hair loss. Thus, the patient is likely to need constant monitoring and face periods of intense hair loss and others of stability.

There are several treatments to treat hair loss, such as topical medications or even injection into the scalp, which stimulate the follicle to produce hair again and must be done continuously.

In addition, hormone blockers can also be used, through oral medications. The objective of these treatments is to stop the hair loss process and recover part of the lost hair.

For areas that have been completely taken over by hair loss, an alternative is hair transplantation. It helps to improve the aesthetic aspect by reimplanting hairs from the scalp itself in the bald region. Despite improving the areas affected by baldness, the technique does not prevent the fall in other areas.

Among the various alternatives, experts emphasize that it is essential that the patient seek a dermatologist so that he can understand the causes of hair loss and for the doctor to define the best treatment for the case.

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