Girlfriend losing patch of hair on back of head

Hi, my girlfriend has had a patch of hair roughly 5cm wide fall out on the back of her scalp , she hasnt noticed she has been doing anything different than she usually does. She is lucky that when her hair is down you cant notice anything, but she is very worried that it will progress. I am curious if you guys had any ideas what would be the the cause, as well as anything she can to to help.

much appreciated.

slashby - Is she taking any medication or have any type of autoimmune disease?

none that i am aware of , she eats pretty well too. the only thing i can think of is she has been through some exams lately but they were not that bad , she claims she was not that stressed from them. I did give her some Maca during that period and thats the only thing other than food that she put in the mouth. She is also on the pill but has been for a while....

dump her

slashby - "The pill" inhibits thyroid function, they are also strongly linked to autoimmune diseases, including lupus and others which have a highly negative effect on hair loss. If she visits a doctor having some tests run such as ANA, RA, ESR, TSH, T4, T3, Prolactin and IGF-1 might be useful.

i will pass on the info and report back the outcome. Thanks very much for your help

CS

I have not been able to do much with my girlfriend loosing hair as she has been overseas for a few weeks attending a wedding. its an awkward situation for her apparently the hair is coming out rapily, fast and in patches and its hard for her to get the tests done because of where she is. i have done a bit of reading and from what i cant tell it looks very similar to Alopecia Areata. i have read that with this condition is treated normally with a topical like a steriod cream. It would be nice to give her something that she could use topically that will help untill she gets back and gets tested for TSH, T4, T3, Prolactin etc.
does anyone know of anything that would help

Thanks again