Category: Hair Loss Causes

I had a question about men loosing hair. My husband starting loosing hair right in the middle of his forehead bewteen his eyes. It was like two wings and then it started receding on the sides and he is also loosing some at the top back of his head. He also gets like these big cysts like pimples on his head, like ingrown hairs that are very painful. There is absolutely no hair loss on either side of his family (mother and father) going back to his “great great” grandparents. Would rogaine help him or could something else be causing this?

Thanks.

I can not recommend starting any medications before having a real diagnosis for his condition. Your husband may be losing hair due to a reaction to local inflammations from folliculitis (a type of acne). If this is the case, his hair loss could be reversible with treatment of the inflammatory condition. My recommendation to you is to visit a good hair specialist for a complete evaluation before starting any medications.

Many people with genetic hair loss may bald from the middle and on the sides, keeping two ‘horns’ of hair at the side of the frontal tuft. This is an easy pattern to recognize and if you send me a picture of his hairline, I can render an opinion for you. Please reference this blog post when sending.

Telogen Effluvium Question:

I am a 36yr old male. I went through a long divorce process that ended in March of 2006 and noticed my hair was “thinning” all over my scalp in early May of 2006. I did not know what to make of it so I discounted it as a bad haircut.

On Memorial day of that year, I had to be hospitalized for three days with a bad case of pneumonia, which caused me to have sustained temperatures of up to 105-6 degrees.

In September, I finally found what described my problem on the Internet. It was called Telogen Effluvium and is pretty well documented on this blog and other sites. I did the “hair pull” test and noticed white bulbs on the ends, confirming the description of TE.

It is now been a year and my hair is still uniformly thin. I have a high hairline anyway at the temples so I do not think my hair is receding. Adding to my problem is the fact that I was adopted at 1yr old and I have no family history to speak of.

I went to several dermatologists and each one told me there is no reason to do a punch biopsy at this time, that my hair looks “normal”. Unfortunately, they does not know how my hair normally looks. There are no balding spots on my head, just really thin all over. Are time frames different for each person suffering from TE?

Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide.

I would want to map out your scalp for miniaturization and find out if you have a condition called DUPA (diffuse unpatterned alopecia), which would impact your permanent rim of hair around the sides and back of your head, or if you have genetic balding in a patterned loss. The information you supplied does not help me to help you. Reversal for TE varies with the person, but first let’s get a diagnosis.

Loose Anagen Syndrome (LAS), also known as loose anagen hair, short anagen syndrome, easily pluckable hair.

Loose anagen syndrome is rather a recently described hair loss disorder affecting predominantly (not exclusively) blond female children. It was first described in 1984. This disorder is characterized by easily and painlessly pluckable anagen hair, which have abnormal morphology. The mechanism of this disorder is not known, but abnormal keratinization of the inner root sheath is suggested. Its incidence is not completely known due to the under-reported cases, but it seems to affect Caucasian people more.

The disorder usually present as general thinning that haircut is never or infrequently needed. Clumps of hair could be removed painlessly during kid playing. This condition is not associated with any nutritional deficiencies and the growth of the affected patients (usually children) is otherwise normal.

In physical examination, sparse growth of thin fine hair may present as diffuse or patchy hair loss. Although hair is not fragile it could be easily and painlessly removed. Hair is usually unkempt and difficult to style. Hair in the other parts of the body is not affected. In microscopic examination the extracted hair are generally in anagen phase. Hair bulb is usually twisted with an acute angle from the shaft. The cuticle has a characteristic of rippled or baggy appearance.

Currently there is no treatment and regrowth is usually spontaneous although hair may never reach its normal length before it is shed.

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References:

1. eMedicine
2. Tricological Society

age 27 Male
Hi, i have dandruff and when i go for my jogs my scalp really starts to itch, it gets intense sometimes… so i scratch all around my head really hard and fast which usually relieves the annoying hot itchy sensation. my question is, by scratching hard and vigorously on the irritated sections of the scalp could this cause any sorts of hair loss? right now its the only remedy that works and it feel good too.

Scratching at the same point can produce a form of hair loss called traction alopecia. See a good dermatologist and find out why you are itching soooooo much.

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Hello,

I was hoping you could explain to me what exactly is “aggressive” MPB versus “normal” MPB? How would you diagnose or differentiate between the two?

Thanks

You may be relating the rapidity of the loss that occurs with genetic balding. Some people bald faster than others and this is mostly a genetic process. To make sense out of your question, I would have to see you and examine you myself.

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Hello,
Im so glad I ran into this website. There is no baldness in my family, however, my hair has been thinning out and i’m only 27. For the past 3 years my shower heads pressure has been really strong and I love just standing there under it for a long time with really hot/warm water. Can too much water pressure be causing my hair to thin out???? and will my hair grow back out once i chance the pressure???

People try to look for causes of hair loss like shower heads and water pressure and you are not the first one to ask, but considering your age, you are probably genetically balding or thinning. Get a diagnosis by getting your hair mapped out for miniaturization and then if you do have genetic balding, treat it properly. High pressure showers will not cause hair loss, that is, unless the hair is ‘hanging by a thread‘.

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