My dog has hair loss around eyes and black skin. How to help?

Hair loss in that area is generally due to allergies, mites or less likely and autoimmune disease. You can try giving Shadow an over the counter antihistamine to see if it helps. Wipe his eyes out daily to keep them clean. If he is rubbing the eyes, put an elizabethan collar on him to protect them. If you are not seeing any improvement, or if he is getting worse, I would recommend a vet visit. Taking care of things early is much better. I hope this helps Shadow.

Small amounts of hair loss at the corners of the eyes is not likely to be associated with an actual eye problem fortunately. In the absence of any itchiness, this is not something I would be terribly concerned about at this time. Keep an eye on the issue for spreading of hair loss or adversely effected eyes. If you want immediate answers to the problem, the only way to do this is with dermatologic diagnostics include skin scrapings, cytology, cultures, and/or biopsies of the areas of loss. Hope this helps.

An allergy would likely cause more general symptoms instead of affecting just one area. Discuss any additional medications with your vet before given any. An e-collar (cone) should be used to prevent pawing. If current therapy is ineffective, consider a recheck with your veterinarian or veterinary ophthalmologist.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing her allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. This could also be due to something like mites and that can be easily determined with an exam and basic cytology which your veterinarian can perform. There are medications such as Apoquel or prednisone which may help with the itch. 

There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. 

Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). 

If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests.

 Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

Thank you for your question! Judging from the pictures, the area is reddened, inflamed and the hair has fallen out. It looks as though Mickey could possibly be dealing with a skin infection or skin mites. I would recommend you take him to your veterinarian for a workup of this to diagnose it appropriately so that the most effective treatment can be prescribed. Mickey will likely need to go on a course of oral antibiotics and a topical ointment to treat this if it is a skin infection and if it is skin mites (demodex) he would need to go on a course of a medication that kills the mites. I hope this guides you in the right direction for addressing this concern of yours. Please feel free to contact me with any further questions / concerns you may have.

It looks like Noel could have a skin or eyelid infection secondary to something like allergies, ringworm, or mange (a mite infection). Some autoimmune skin diseases can cause similar signs. I would recommend seeing your vet - they might want to take a sample to examine for mites or infection, then may recommend some oral or topical treatments.

Skin problems can have a variety of causes, sometimes more than one. Allergies, bacterial or fungal infections, even contact with some surfaces or substances will cause itching and/or hair loss. It is important to have the problem checked by your vet to determine if there is a medical cause for your pet’s skin issues and treat accordingly. In pets of all ages, fleas, food allergies and exposure to chemical irritants such as cleaners and soaps can be a cause. Any one of these may not be enough to trigger the breakouts, depending on how sensitive your pet is, but a combination can be enough to start the itch-scratch cycle. Finding out the cause and eliminating it is the best course of action. With flea allergies, if your pet is sensitive enough, a single bite can cause them to break out scratch enough to tear their skin. Check for fleas with a flea comb. Look for fleas and/or tiny black granules, like coarse black pepper. This is flea feces, consisting of digested, dried blood. You may find tiny white particles, like salt, which are the flea eggs. Applying a good topical monthly flea treatment and aggressively treating your house and yard will help break the flea life cycle. If you use plastic bowls, this is a possible cause for hair loss, though this tends to be on the chin, where their skin touches the bowl while they eat. If you suspect this to be the culprit, try changing the bowls to glass, metal or ceramic. Food allergies are often caused by sensitivity to a protein in the food. Hill's Science Diet offers some non-prescription options for sensitive skin as well as prescription hypoallergenic foods for more severe cases. Royal Canin carries limited protein diets that may also offer some relief. Your vet can recommend a specific diet that will help. If there is no relief or not enough, consider getting your pet checked by a veterinary dermatologist and having allergy testing done.