A 30-year-old female surgical chief resident, facing the dual pressures of professional exams and hospital accreditation, discovered a circular bald patch on her scalp, about the size of a quarter. At first, she did not pay much attention to it, but as her anxiety levels increased, the hair loss rapidly expanded into multiple patches within a month, accompanied by significant redness, swelling, pain, and itching of the scalp.
After clinical examinations ruled out systemic problems such as thyroid issues, she was diagnosed with stress-induced acute alopecia areata.
