Category: Hair Loss Causes

Hi ! I am a 23 year old male NW2 and I have long hair that is thinning diffusely on top with scalp visible. I heard from another doctor that I should cut my hair very short and frequently for the next 6 months to a year to alleviate the thinning. She said that if the hair is too long, the capillary matrix underneath the scalp is deprived of too many nutrients and additionally the sebum glands in each follicle, whose sebum output are allegedly in a positive feedback loop with respect to the length of the hair, will burn out from being overworked, causing the hairs to eventually fall out if the man’s long hair is not cut short.

Is this true ?

That is false.

I do not like to correct other doctors recommendations or explanations, because what they may have told you may have been misunderstood. While the explanation that you were allegedly given may sound semi-plausible and even scientific, it is false. Cutting hair shorter or shaving your hair will not alleviate male pattern balding. Male pattern baldness is genetic.

Hair length has nothing to do with hair loss, unless perhaps your hair is getting caught on things and being pulled out. Men with short hair still go bald, and there are many men and women with long hair that don’t see thinning.

Snippet from the article:

It’s a male contraceptive that can prevent baldness, regenerate hair and prevent prostate cancer. So claims Sujoy K. Guha, a professor at IIT-Kharagpur, whose team has upgraded the RISUG contraceptive to this end.

The drug, originally developed at IIT-Kharagpur by Guha, has moved a notch up by using a world-first technology that will generate a new nano drug inside the human body. The project was funded by the ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the research was coordinated by the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance (RISUG), now in the last leg of its trials, is slated for a restricted, monitored launch by the end of this year.

Read the rest — Talk about a wonder drug! New contraceptive for men also prevents cancer and baldness

Take this news with a grain of salt. We’ll see what becomes of this after the trials are complete. I found an article from a few years ago about RISUG on Wired.com that has more information about the contraceptive part, though I’m unclear how the hair loss and prostate treatments come into play.

Doc.. had a slight blow to the head above my hairline where I’m experiencing some loss. Area is tender.. minor swelling so far. How hard a hit would one have to take to cause or aggravate hair loss?

Thanks

Hair loss generally returns in up to 8 months if it is a discrete spot. If you are talking about general hair loss, I don’t know what is happening to you. A blow to the head can not be quantified by me from the information you supplied in your post.

(female)
I suffered from eating disorders for almost 2yrs & then i managed to cut back on bulimia over a period of a few months & then i stopped all together. About 2 months after I stopped I started losing my hair. I’ve been losing it for almost 7 months now & have been losing eyelashes for about 3 months.

I would like to know whether this is because of bulimia even though throughout the period of months while I was stopping, I ate a fairly balanced diet & i eat a balanced diet now. Also if it is due to it, how long will it take before my hair stops falling out? And if it isnt, what is it due to? I’m 15 so it isnt age or anything.

Please help, thank you.

Bulimia is known to cause telogen effluvium, a temporary hair loss. You need to get nutritional control of your situation and get managed by a good doctor who can follow your hair loss with objective measurement. It could take up to a year to see regrowth.

Since I had heart bypass surgery on the 21st December 2012, I noticed after a few months I was starting thin at the hairline area, since then it has continued to thin to a point it is completely see through at the hairline and top of head. No one in our family has gone bald, sure they have thinned a little as they get older but still have masses of hair even in to there eighties.

I’m on new medication since the bypass, 80mg Atorvastatin, 5mg Bisoporol Fumarate, 10mg Ramipril, 500mg Metformin, 267mg Fenofibrate and 75mg Aspirin.

I understand a major operation or financial stress or physical stress (unfortunately I still have severe angina many times a day) or medications (almost all of the medications list hair loss as a possible rare side effect) can potentially cause hair loss.

My Doctor is not taking it seriously and does little to help, but for me I can deal with potentially another heart bypass if that is needed but going bald is unacceptable. I would not be able to function socially and now rarely go out. I am 53 by the way and type 2 diabetic. Any advise would be most appreciated

Major surgeries, illness, or stress on your body can cause hair loss. In general, it may take up to one year to regain some of the hairs.

I realize hair loss can be a devastating to many people, but in your case, you had a major heart surgery and you are alive. Without the surgery you could be dead. I would have some perspective.

There are many things you can do for thinning hair. There are medical and surgical treatments available. If your doctor isn’t taking it seriously, find another doctor that specializes in treating hair loss. But if your loss isn’t due to genetic causes and this is a temporary loss brought on from surgical stress, the best thing to do is have patience.

dear doc, what could possibly be a cause for my rapid thinning of hair on the side of my head? In fact, its the first place to thin.

Isn’t the sides supposed to be MPB resistant? what i mean by side is the entire area above the ears and above sideburns. Please help! thanks in advance

You are correct that the sides of the head (above the ears) should not be affected by male pattern baldness (MPB), but I do not know what you are experiencing. Unfortunately, I can’t just diagnose someone’s hair loss cause based on a couple sentence description. It could be an allergy, infection, or disease. I would see a doctor to have an examination and get a diagnosis.

Two questions.

1. I know that stress can cause or “jump start” hair loss. But is it like normal girlfriend left me stress or only extreme stress over prolonged periods of time?

2. When you say there’s about a 51 percent chance of inheriting mpb from your mother’s side and 49 percent from your father, does it mean your mother’s father and only your father, with some variation or is it the entire side of the family with some variation? Or is it far far more complex?

1. I would say extreme stress would be more likely to cause hair loss, though the amount of stress different people can handle will vary. Medical illness is also a stress, and some will even see hair loss following sickness. Most people who have stress induced hair loss will have some genetic factors that are present, though that isn’t always the case.

2. The majority of hair loss cases are from genetic causes. I have seen it coming from both sides of the family. Many young men, particularly with early advanced hair loss, can identify someone in their family that told them of the connections. Fathers, in particular, identify with their sons if they have MPB.

Hello Doctor,
A few days back I got a stye on right eyelid that caused a loss of eyelashes in that area. Will the eyelashes grow back or not?

Regards

I would think that your eyelashes will probably grow back. It can take as long as a year to see regrowth.

My hairline is very up from my childhood. my father/uncles have baldness but my grandpa doesnt. Now I am 25 and suffering from dandruff and hair loss..

My question is, does combing hair have any good effect on hair or not? because nowadays i dont comb hair a lot, fearing it will cause much hair loss. When should I comb hair and how many times a day?

You can comb your hair anytime and as much as you please. Combing your hair has nothing to do with hair loss, unless you’re really aggressive with it and causing your hair to be pulled out. If you have genetic hair loss, combing isn’t going to change your genetics.