Netflix star Lili Reinhart reveals alopecia diagnosis in new TikTok video

Riverdale star Lili Reinhart has been diagnosed with alopecia. Photo / Getty Images

Popular Netflix actress Lili Reinhart has revealed to her fans she was recently diagnosed with alopecia.

The 27-year-old Riverdale star shared the news on TikTok posting a video of herself undergoing red light therapy. In the caption, she wrote, “was just diagnosed with alopecia in the midst of a major depressive episode”.

In the clip, the star can be seen lip-syncing over a popular audio on the ap in which a man says, “I’m pushed beyond the limits of what a person should be pushed to endure”, and told fans, “red light therapy is my new best friend”, People magazine has reported.

The National Institute of Health states that alopecia affects as many as 6.7 million people in America. As for New Zealand, RNZ reported the Ministry of Health does not keep a record of how many people have alopecia, however noted it could be in the low thousands, definitely in the hundreds.

@lilireinhart

Red light therapy is my new best friend. #alopecia #mentalhealth

♬ original sound - Sam Huberty

While the cause of the condition is unknown, NIH says it generally affects the head and face and occurs when “the immune system attacks hair follicles and causes hair loss”. The most common form of the condition is “patchy alopecia areata”, which is when a person develops bald spots on their scalp or elsewhere on their body that are approximately the size of a coin.

Red light therapy is a form of treatment for the condition as it can promote hair growth in people with androgenic alopecia, People reports.

Reinhart isn’t the only celebrity who has been open about their alopecia battle, elsewhere Jada Pinkett Smith has often given fans updates on her struggles with the condition and how “terrifying” she found it when she first began losing her hair.

Jada Pinkett Smith also has the condition, often speaking openly about her experience. Photo / Getty Images

“I was in the shower one day and had just handfuls of hair in my hands and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, am I going bald?’” she told People magazine. “It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking in fear. That’s why I cut my hair, and why I continue to cut it.”

Documentary-maker and journalist Louis Theroux has also the condition, telling fans that it affects his beard and eyebrows. He made light of the situation in an Instagram post saying: “I’d like to know how I’m supposed to continue a career based largely on raising and lowering different eyebrows without any eyebrows!”

Tyra Banks also experiences the condition with flare-ups occurring when she is stressed. She told the Wall Street Journal in 2011 that while writing her autobiography she experienced hair loss.

“How can I say this without tearing up?” she told the news outlet. “I got a little alopecia from the stress.”