Brief Answer:
Alopecia areata

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to healthcaremagic

I am Dr. Kakkar. I have gone through your query and I have understood it.

I would keep a possibility of Alopecia areata. It is an autoimmune condition and commonly present as focal patches of hair loss, most commonly over the scalp but also on the beard, moustache or eyebrows or eyelashes. This is the most common type. Other types are alopecia totalis and alopecia universalis. In Alopecia totalis is when hair loss involves the entire scalp whereas in Alopecia universalis hair loss involves the entire body hair.

In Focal/patchy type of Alopecia Areata, in most cases, hair regrow spontaneously within 1 year (as it happened first time round with you, 5 years ago). But people often seek treatment because the bald patches are unsightly and are easily noticeable to others.

Various treatment options in Focal type of alopecia areata in order of the choice of treatment:

--Intra-lesional Triamcinolone acetonide is first line treatment in adults followed by other modalities like:
--Topical potent steroids
--Topical Minoxidil
--Topical Anthranalin
--Topical PUVA(psoralens +UVA therapy).

All of them are effective. However I prefer Intra-lesional steroid in my patients of Alopecia areata. It can be repeated after 3 -4 weeks and usually hair regrow after 2 injections, given 3 weeks apart.

I would suggest that you seek an appointment with a dermatologist in your vicinity.

Regards

---