Hello and welcome to healthcaremagic Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition and commonly present as focal patches of hair loss, most commonly over the scalp but also on the beard, moustache or eyebrows or eyelashes. This is known as patch type OR focal alopecia areata. Alopecia totalis is when hair loss involves the entire scalp and Alopecia universalis is when hair loss involves the entire body hair. In Focal type of Alopecia Areata, most of times, hair regrows spontaneously within 1 year (as it happened first time round with you, 5 years ago). But people often seek treatment because the bald patches are unsightly and are easily noticeable to others. Various treatment options in Focal type of alopecia areata in order of the choice of treatment: --Intra-lesional Triamcinolone acetonide is first line treatment (used in concerntration of 2.5 -10 mg/ml. The lowest concentration is used on the face) in adults. Other modalities are: --Topical potent steroids: First line in children because they cannot tolerate injections. --Topical Minoxidil --Topical Anthranalin --Topical PUVA(psoralens +UVA therapy). All of them are effective. However I prefer Intralesional steroid in my patients of Alopecia areata. It can be repeated after 3 -4 weeks and usually hair regrow after 2 injections, given 3 weeks apart. Regrowth usually is seen within 4-6 weeks in responsive patients. Whereas in case of topical steroid treatment must be continued for a minimum of 3 months before regrowth can be expected. Therefore intralesional injection with triamcinolone acetonide, is a far better option in adults, in terms of efficacy. I hope this answers your query regards