Category: Hair Loss Causes

I keep reading a lot about “fibrosis” and how it develops with male pattern baldness. Does this fibrosis mean that no new hair will ever grow in “fibrotic” areas except by transplant?

Thank You!!

Fibrosis refers to subtle microscopic changes that can be seen in the balding process, but if it exists secondary to balding, it is a controversial issue amongst doctors. Histologic assessment of the skin during balding may show some inflammation around the follicles followed by fibrosis (molecular deposition of collagen) of the hair follicle and its appendages.

Doctor,

You’ve said it before, and I agree with you that people suffering from hair loss, in their hopes of being delivered from their pain, are willing to believe too resolutely in products that
promise them a cure.

This article says it all: Threats To Hope: Desperation Affects Reasoning About Product Information

I hope everyone reads it and thereby removes the poor decision-making skills that sometimes accompanies their desperation.

Excellent. Thank you for sending this!

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I was curious to know how many eyelashes is it normal for a person to lose in a day?

I answered a similar question about beard hair loss recently (see: How Many Hairs Does a Man Lose From His Beard Each Day?). For eyelashes, I suspect a range from 0 to 4 at most.

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In one of your responses, you state that testosterone can precipitate the hairloss gene’s expression and that testosterone itself can cause hair loss. Where does this information come from? Is this an opinion or documented information? Everything I can find indicates DHT as the problem source. If it is testosterone, why would balding not occur in teenage years as this is primetime for testosterone production?

I will attempt to correct any confusion that I may have caused:

DHT is a by-product of testosterone which occurs as the liver breaks down testosterone into DHT.

Thus, having more testosterone will produce more DHT. DHT is responsible for genetic male pattern balding (MPB) or androgenic alopecia. In other words, if you do NOT have the gene (or genes) for MPB you can have all the DHT in the world and it will not cause balding. Moreover, teenagers with “primetime” testosterone production may have “primetime” DHT, but if their genes are not programmed for hair loss to start at that age, they would not have hair loss. It is definitely in the genes, but it also has to do with timing!

Dear Dr. Rassman,

How is this possible? I’ve noticed this celebrity whose entire forhead is bald except for a little stubborn patch in the middle. It doesn’t make any sense. How can the entire forhead go bald while a little patch remains? Does not DHT miniturize all the hairs? Here is the picture of the celebrity below and another picture I found with a gentlemen who has the same pattern.

Celebrity – John C. McGinley

PG.com patient

I’ve been asked about this before, and I always point to David Letterman, who has a persistent forelock and hair loss around it. This is a genetic trait (shown well in your photo references) which is common in some families. I see it quite often.

(female) Ok first off, I’m almost seventeen. About a month and a half or so ago, most of the hairs on my eyebrow fell out. It’s only my left eyebrow though, which is strange. I haven’t used any sort of cream on my face or taken any medications except for the occasional ibuprofen which I’ve taken before with no problem. I think I have an idea, but I’m not sure. I got bangs before the eyebrow started falling out and when my bangs started to grow out, I just pushed them to the left. So is it possible that my bangs irritated the hairs, causing them to fall out? I’m not really sure. Since I thought of that, I’ve been trying to bobby pin them back lately because it’s summer and I’m home a lot, but take the bobby pin out when I leave the house because it’s embarrasing and my hair covers it. But they’re still not growing back. I don’t know what to do. Any suggestions?

It is very peculiar that only one side of your eyebrow has fallen out. I highly doubt it was due to your bangs brushing up on them. As it has only been a month, high magnification examination would show what stubble is left and what it looks like. I would be curious to know if you have experienced any specific patches of hair loss on your scalp or on your body. There is a relatively rare condition such as alopecia areata that can manifest in the manner that you are describing. You need to see your family doctor to make sure your thyroid is OK. The most common cause of eyebrow hair loss is when a person picks or plucks it. However it is almost impossible to give you a diagnosis without examining you in person. Perhaps you can email me some photos (confidential) of course. Please reference this post when sending. Even better, if you can make a trip to Los Angeles, I can examine you in person.