Alopecia barbae is a condition that causes men to lose some or all of their beard. Unless you’ve got it, no one really knows that alopecia barbae exists.

Experts believe alopecia barbae is an auto-immune condition. This is where your body attacks its own hairs, believing them to be foreign. Nobody knows what causes it, but historically there’s been a presumed association with both psychological and physical stress.

For specialist advice, alopecia barbae sufferers can consult a dermatologist, and preferably one who specialises in hair loss. They won’t have a magic cure, but as consultant dermatologist at The Dermatology Clinic Dr Daniel Glass explains, they will be better placed than a GP to give you an honest assessment about whether your hair is likely to grow back.

For men not keen on “pumping steroids” into their face, there are new treatments emerging that look promising, but, according to Dr Greg Williams, hair transplant surgeon at the Farjo Hair Institute, “Some of them at the moment have quite high side-effect profiles and toxicities, so they’re not mainstream.”

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