Hair loss with pustules

My 10 year old daughter has been seeing a dermatologist for about 8 months for a consition on her scalp.  I first noticed an oval shaped patch of hair loss on her scalp halfway between her ear and the middle of her head.  A few weeks later she developed fluid filled pustules around the area.  They do not hurt or itch but are very ugly.  This has spread accross her hair line to the other side.  She was given a steroid cream that made it worse.  They injected steroids to stimulate hair growth.  This did nothing.  The derm has changed the diagnosis several times now she is thinking Lichen Planus of the scalp but my own research causes me to not agree.  Anyone have any suggestions.  My girl is very sad, she can't pull back her hair because of the nasty pimple things.  Thanks.

[BhumikaMD]

Hi,

A number of things can cause excessive hair loss. For example, about 3 or 4 months after an illness or a major surgery, you may suddenly lose a large amount of hair. This hair loss is related to the stress of the illness and is temporary.

Hormonal problems may cause hair loss. If your thyroid gland is overactive or underactive, your hair may fall out. This hair loss usually can be helped by treatment thyroid disease. Hair loss may occur if male or female hormones, known as androgens and estrogens, are out of balance. Correcting the hormone imbalance may stop your hair loss.

Some medicines can cause hair loss. This type of hair loss improves when you stop taking the medicine. Medicines that can cause hair loss include blood thinners (also called anticoagulants), medicines used for gout, medicines used in chemotherapy to treat cancer, vitamin A (if too much is taken), birth control pills and antidepressants.

Certain infections can cause hair loss. Fungal infections of the scalp can cause hair loss in children. The infection is easily treated with antifungal medicines.

Finally, hair loss may occur as part of an underlying disease, such as lupus or diabetes. Since hair loss may be an early sign of a disease, it is important to find the cause so that it can be treated.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hair-loss/DS00278

It would be advisable to consult a skin specialist for this and then decide the cause and further plan of management.

Let us know if you need any other information.

Regards.