Many people who suffer from Alopecia find that getting their insurance company to take their condition seriously is an uphill battle. Many health plans only cover a minimal portion of the cost of a medical hair prosthesis, but that should change. A study published in the journal Dermatology and Psychosomatics reveals a strong association between Alopecia and psychiatric disorders that a medical hair prosthesis could help treat.

According to the study, the occurrence of "depressive episodes, generalized anxiety disorders, social phobia and adjustment disorders are frequently found" in people who suffer from Alopecia Areata. The ability to function socially is constricted by the loss of hair, because people who have Alopecia feel self-conscious about their appearance. Fortunately, a form of prosthetic exists that could restore some self-esteem and reduce the occurrence of social phobia in Alopecia sufferers, just as reconstructive surgery can do for women who have had a mastectomy due to breast cancer.

Unfortunately, many insurance companies do not see a difference between a $200 stock wig and a medical hair prosthesis. A medical hair prosthesis is a special type of hair replacement that is specially designed for someone with medically related hair loss and is custom fit to their head. In this regard, a stock wig is to a medical hair prosthesis as a phony set of wax teeth found in a costume shop is to a set of dentures created by a dentist.

When the healthcare community at large begins to take Alopecia seriously as a threat to psychiatric health, only then will insurance companies understand and address this disease with adequate coverage. Hopefully, with a little help from the aforementioned study and others to come, the evidence will be undeniable.