Lili Reinhart Revealed Her Alopecia Diagnosis On TikTok—Here's What That Means
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Lili Reinhart revealed her alopecia diagnosis on TikTok this week, posting a video of herself sitting beneath a red light lamp with the words, “Was just diagnosed with alopecia in the midst of a major depressive episode,” over the video.
Alopecia is a disease that causes hair loss, predominately from the scalp, though it can be anywhere on your body, per the Mayo Clinic.
In the video, Lili, 27, is lip synching to a trending TikTok sound, saying, “I’m pushed beyond limits of what a person should be pushed to endure,” as she undergoes red light therapy for her alopecia diagnosis.
This isn't the first time Lili has referenced her mental health struggles on social media. Lili has talked about her battle with depression in an Instagram post from May 2021, according to US Magazine.
“Some days I feel really defeated by my depression,” she captioned an Instagram Story. “It’s an exhausting battle that I’ve been fighting for 11 years and some days, like today, it can feel intolerable."
She added: “Remember you are always worth fighting for. And tomorrow could be such a beautiful day.”
The alopecia diagnosis is a new development in Lilli’s health journey. You might have some questions about what the condition means for the actress, so here's everything to know:
What is alopecia?
Alopecia is an autoimmune disease that causes people to lose hair, either from their scalp or different parts of their body. The loss of hair can be temporary or permanent, per the Mayo Clinic.
While in some cases the hair can return, often the hair loss is permanent.
Does red light therapy help alopecia?
Red light therapy can help stimulate hair growth in alopecia patients and in some cases, even reverse some of the damage to hair follicles that occurs as a result of this condition, a December 2021 study published in the Annals of Dermatology showed.
Even when not used to treat patients with alopecia, red light therapy is regularly used for hair regrowth with varying results, the study explained.
What are the other treatments?
There are several known treatment options for alopecia, per Cleveland Clinic. They include:
Anti-inflammatory drugs injected into the scalp or taken orally (this includes corticosteroids)
Rogaine (to spark regrowth)
Platelet-rich plasma infusion, which is where a medical provider removes blood from your body, processes it, and then re-injects it back into your head to stimulate growth, per the clinic.
What causes alopecia?
Alopecia is an autoimmune disease, meaning it causes your immune system to attack your body and, in this case, your hair follicles. The body mistakenly thinks the follicles are foreign invaders (like bacteria or parasites), per Cleveland Clinic.
Alopecia can be hereditary or brought on by stress or other existing autoimmune disorders.
How common is it?
Roughly 2 percent of people will experience alopecia to some degree in their lifetime, per the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. That means that about 6.7 million people in the United States and 160 million people across the globe have experienced alopecia or will have it at some point, per the foundation.
The foundation estimates that 700,000 people in the U.S. have some form of active alopecia right now.
Which other celebrities have talked about having alopecia?
Lili joins quite a cohort of famous women who have shared their struggles with the condition with the world. Several other celebs have talked about their alopecia, most notably Jada Pinkett Smith, who was diagnosed in 2018 and raises awareness for the condition now.
Actress Viola Davis also shared that she experienced alopecia in her 20s in a 2014 interview with Vulture. And in 2011, supermodel Tyra Banks shared with the Wall Street Journal that she experienced hair loss and “a little alopecia” from the stress of writing her book.
Finally Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, who represents a part of Massachusetts, has been public with her struggle with alopecia, which began shortly after she won her historic election in 2018, becoming the first Black woman to represent Massachusetts in Congress. She shared her experience with CBS This Morning at the time.
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