Ma SH, Tai YH, Dai YX, et al. - In this nationwide population-based cohort study, researchers examined the risk of hearing loss (HL) in patients with alopecia areata (AA), a common autoimmune disease, utilizing claims data from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Current evidence indicates that follicular melanocytes may be a key factor in AA's autoimmune process. Besides their presence in the skin, melanocytes are also present in the stria vascularis of the cochlea as intermediate cells, which are critical for normal hearing. A common complication in late-stage disease is sensorineural HL in patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease, a rare autoimmune disorder targeting melanocytes.