Since alopecia is an autoimmune disease, you may not be able to stop the spread of bald patches on the scalp and other parts of the body without proper treatment. Pediatric dermatologists recommend using topical steroids, steroid injections, topical irritants and [simple_tooltip text=immunotherapy tooltip=A type of treatment that uses a person’s immune system to treat certain diseases, such as cancer. ], topical minoxidil, and other pills to manage the condition (23).