Louis Theroux shared a health update on Wednesday after losing his eyebrows due to alopecia.
The journalist opened up about his diagnosis with the autoimmune disease last year, which causes hair loss and can affect many areas of the body, but predominantly impacts a person’s scalp, head, or face, and has been taking to social media to ask for advice.
In his latest update, the 53-year-old revealed that he has undergone microblading to replace the loss of hair over his eyebrows, and spoke about his joy at having his “old face back”.
Taking to Instagram with a series of selfies, the documentarian wrote: “I realise there are much bigger things to worry about in the world but… a while ago I shared that my eyebrows had basically disappeared due to alopecia.
“I received a lot of nice messages, some suggesting I try ‘microblading’, a form of temporary tattoo. So that’s what I did!
“It took two sessions of a couple of hours. I’m happy to have my old face back.
“The new brows are neater and more shapely than my ‘real’ ones were. But there are a couple of wisps of my remaining hair in there which help make them look more natural.”
In the same caption, Theroux mentioned that he is now experiencing more “lesions” on his scalp after first noticing he had suffered hair loss on his face but is feeling “very grateful” that he is “happy and healthy” in other ways.
He continued: “Meanwhile more gaps – or ‘lesions’ to use the technical term – have appeared on my scalp.
“I have photos of those which I may share at some point or I may not – they are a bit weird and depressing to look at tbh. Life goes on.
“I am happy and healthy in every other way and I feel very grateful.”
In December, Theroux revealed on Instagram that he had shaved off his eyebrows, writing: “no eyebrows is better than patchy eyebrows.”
In February, it was disclosed that a medication for severe hair loss is being recommended for the first time on the NHS, offering hope for those with alopecia, a condition for which there is currently no cure.
The daily pill, called ritlecitinib or Litfulo, could help 14,000 people in England, by helping to fight inflammation to improve hair growth.
Other notable figures battling various forms of alopecia include Gail Porter, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Lea Michele, Jesy Nelson, and Ricki Lake.
