Category: Hair Loss Causes

Hi Dr.,

I had a mole removed on my head, it was up near the front hairline where I had some miniaturization, the doctor did something called a shave biopsy to remove the mole. Can this type of procedure cause shock loss? He numbed the area, then shaved, then burnt what was left.

It may cause shock loss, as any surgical procedure is a potential “shock” to the miniaturized hairs. Just the local anesthesia can induce the shock loss. Hopefully though, you will not lose hair.

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Hey Guys,

I’m 32 years old and starting to show signs of thinning hair at the very front of my scalp and some spots behing that. The only relative I have who has experienced hair loss was a maternal great-uncle.

The onset seemed very sudden- I would find around 20 hairs in the sink every time I groomed. I have in the past been diagnosed with a case of mild OCD (Doc used the adjective “mild”), and so I promptly became, you guessed it- obsessed. Every time I groomed I would shake my hair to see if any hair was coming out. For about three weeks my hair responded by giving me 20+ hairs at the bottom of the sink every time I would shake it. Also, I noticed increased dandruff-type stuff and skin irritation on my scalp.

Now that I see some thinning, my hair has stopped shedding as easily as it did, although the dandruff has remained at higher than usual levels. I’m not finding the same amount of hair in the sink. Maybe two or three hairs when I shake it.

I’ve been under alot of stress and dealing with anxiety issues for a couple of years now. My wife says that I habitually run my fingers through my hair, though we both agree I stop short of pulling it. My questions are: could my hair loss be anxiety related? Could running your fingers through your hair as a nervous habit cause hair loss? Finally, has the fact that it has stopped shedding at the same rate indicate that I’m no longer interuppting my hairs natural cycle?

I’m keeping my hands away from my hair and hoping that some stress management will help it regrow. Thanks for your time.

Stress can cause hair loss in some people who have genetically sensitive hair that goes into telogen in response to stress or anxiety. I find this more common in women, who usually regrow the hair that they lost from stress. Stress management will likely help. Running your fingers through your hair, provided that you are not pulling on the hair, will not cause you to lose hair.

first of all i want to thank the doctor for a such great site, and also taking the time to answer some questions.My first question how is easy can a hair follicle be damaged, for example I cut my self shaving my head does that mean that the follicle is damaged? second question is that if you get slapped in the head is that gone make hair to fall out?

Unless it is very deep, cutting your skin while shaving will not cause hair damage. And no, slapping your head will not cause hair loss.

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You seem pretty sure that no amount of ejaculation can contribute to hair loss. Where is your evidence?

I’m merely saying this because I know for a fact that my bald spot is a direct result of my excessive masturbation. Seeing that I’m only 19 and that the hair loss completely stopped after I stopped masturbating I’d say I have plenty of evidence at least for myself.

Testosterone is converted to DHT through frequent ejaculations…therefore masturbation does in fact contribute to baldness. I’m only 19 and after two years of masturbating 5-7 times a day I already have a huge bald spot on my head so don’t give me any bulls..t and don’t contribute to the suffering of others just because you don’t want your precious masturbation to be seen for what it really is -A dangerous addiction.

In addition masturbating does not relieve sexual urges, it merely feeds them. I haven’t masturbated or had sex for 5 months now and I don’t miss it.

You are a pitiful human being and I hope that one day you realize how big of a mistake you are making right now. You are being extremely selfish and you will have to answer for your actions just like the rest of us.

What can I say? Sexual addictions are addictions. I can not prove a connection between masturbation and hair loss… I just know it in my gut. There is no doubt that people who take high doses of testosterone can become overly sexually obsessed. That is how our biology works. You are correct, testosterone does cause hair loss largely when it is converted to DHT. I would have to do a study isolating hundreds of men who have the balding gene, then get accurate information about the frequency of their masturbation and separate the groups so that the balding would be considered. Then it would have to be statistically significant according to a statistician. I don’t know of anyone willing or driven to do this study scientifically. As this is your focused question, why not resolve the issue with your own study and report it back to me? I will post it if it is a serious study.

I gather from your email that you are also angry and have focused that anger on me. Excess testosterone has been known to cause aggressive behavior in some men. You may have a hormonal problem or an addictive one. In any event, your anger is misplaced. I do wish you well.

I started loosing lots of hair right after i turned 21, i’m a male 26 now, some hair has to be growing back because in all these 5 years after all the hair i saw i lost i still have hair, my hairline is intact but i have thin hair ALL AROUND including the sides. What i noticed the most is that i wash my hair daily, but in the morning my scalp is very oily and greasy same as my hair, very itchy too. I can take with my nails the build up thats on my scalp, its oily and kind of yellow colored. I can see when i look at the hair shaft that falls out that there is always this kind of flake or build up attached to the end of it (coming from the scalp). When i pull out hair from my head a lot of hair falls out with the same description. For the itching and burning sensation and the very oily scalp i’m pretty sure it has something to do directly with all the hair lost. I used and try all shampos like t-gel. nizoral , ect, making it worst, more flakes and more irrtitation. What tipe of hair loss do you think i’m suffering or what kind of scalp problem do you think it is???

Unfortunately, I can’t really give you a great answer to your question without examining you. Many people write to me with partial descriptions of things that they recognize, but they often do not understand what they are seeing. A trained eye from a good dermatologist will tell you what you are experiencing. There is no simple way to go on the internet and solve even many of the simple problems.