Ashley Tisdale opened up about living with alopecia in new social media and blog posts.
For context, alopecia is an autoimmune skin disease that causes hair loss. It affects about 2 in every 100 people and typically involves patchy (but sometimes complete) hair loss on the scalp, face, and body.
In an Instagram caption, Ashley wrote, "Alopecia and hair loss are fairly common, but a lot of people feel embarrassed to talk about these issues. Any type of hair loss can affect your self-esteem, especially if you feel like you’re the only one going through it."
She continued, "That’s why I want to talk about it openly — because it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes it’s connected to hormones, other times to heredity, and for me, it’s connected to stress overload."
"In my young 20s, I had noticed that there was a little bit of a bald spot, right at my hairline," Ashley said in the attached video, describing how she was then diagnosed with alopecia by a dermatologist.
"A lot of it's triggered by stress, and I was going through a really stressful time. The hair grew back and it always does, thankfully," she continued, describing how she was currently experiencing hair loss on a section near the back of her neck.
"There's been a couple of times in my life where I've had very stressful events, and I've noticed that it will come back," she added. "It can be stressful just even having it and being like, 'Oh my gosh, what if it gets worse?'" Ashley ultimately credited stress management techniques, platelet-rich plasma treatment, and her diet for helping her manage the autoimmune disease.
