Page:Skin Diseases of Children.djvu/21

Rh most cases, and especially in those cases occurring in childhood, the cause seems to have ceased to act and the hair returns. A fine, downy growth may be seen over a portion or the whole extent of the bald patch, and gradually the baldness disappears. In some cases, and especially in children with dark hair, the new growth is at first colorless and presents quite a contrast with the normal hair (Fig. 3). If this new hair persists in growing, it is certain to become pigmented in due time and assume a natural color. But unfortunately in some cases this new growth does not persist. It grows just enough to



delude one into a hope of speedy recovery, and then begins to loosen and fall out. Even a temporary growth, however, is encouraging and warrants the prediction that sooner or later the disease will come to an end. In many cases two or three months will find the hair growing naturally over the whole scalp, while in other cases the affection, through a stubborn persistence or a succession of relapses, may last a year or two. In adults a complete loss of hair is often irremediable, but in