Hello, Welcome to healthcare magic. I understand from your query that your friend is having patches of hair loss. From your history and description, I would consider the diagnosis of alopecia areata. This is an autoimmune disorder in which the body cells attack the hair follicles and cause patches of hair fall on the scalp, beard and moustache area and even the body hair. The treatment involves injecting a steroid into the patches once in 3 weeks for 3-4 times. He could also benefit from topical creams like mometasone and minoxidil solution. He need to consult a dermatologist as none of these are over the counter medications. The prognosis differs form patient to patient and is difficult to predict. Hope this helps you. Take care.