Category: Hair Diseases

sir,
I have swelling in neck region lymph node from last three months. Positive for TB after FNAC test. Not yet taken medication. Doctors suspects extra pulmonary TB. Lungs are clear in
xray. I have hair loss. Is it just cuz of TB and will it be continue if i take medication regularly? Is it temporary or permanent hair loss? Or i regain hairs after treatment, cuz i have
no hereditary for hair loss in my family. i have very low density of hairs now. no bald spots but hairs density getting lower.

please help respond me soon

Before worrying about hair loss, you need to see a doctor (or continue seeing a doctor) to have your medical problems treated. Tuberculosis can manifest in many ways, which can include hair loss due to weight loss and chronic illness issues. If your hair loss is not genetic, it may be due to the stress on your body from the disease process, but if you add genetic hair loss on the disease problem, it will probably not come back. Generally you hair should return, but there is no guarantees and you do not have genetic hair loss compounding your problem.

From a historical perspective, hair loss was very common in the cities when TB ran wild. That was why a woman looked for a hairy man to qualify a man as a prospective husband. If a man lost his hair, the presumption was that they had TB and would probably die from it, not living long enough to provide family support for the long term.

I am a 28 year old male living in the east bay area california, and I have a question in regards to facial hair loss. There are two different areas of my face that are being affected, one on the right side of my face 1″ from my chin, surrounding a mole and the other to the left of my face that starts just under my chin and ends about an inch and a half to the left. Both spots are circular in nature.. and seem to be growing. In the past i had hair in both spots, but now the skin is smooth and the hair (if any) is blonde-ish in color an extremely sparse (almost like the peach fuzz you get when you are in your early teen-age years before hair growth really starts. What could be causing these bald spots on my face, and is this something that I should be concerned about?

thanks

Sometimes hair loss that occurs in patches on different parts of the body may be caused by a condition known as alopecia areata. There is no definitive treatment, but usually hair will grow back in many of these patients. You should see a dermatologist for this condition. For more information please see National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

I am 42 years old and have had progressive thinning of my hair for about 12 years. Thinning is mostly on the top of my head. I have been to Rheumatology who has referred me to Dermatology. I am a University of Michigan patient. I have had every lab possible (I think) drawn. Only thing that is positive is my ANA. My nuclear antibody titer is >=1:2560 NAB pattern is HOMO. ADNA is negative. Do you think I should ask to have my androgen levels tested? Should I be asking to be referred to Endocrine? I’m at a loss. I’m ready to visit a hair loss center but before that I want everything else ruled out. I NEED YOUR HELP!

If you have an elevated ANA titer, one might worry about autoimmune diseases that can cause hair loss. Please see Lupus.org – My ANA Is Positive… What Does That Mean?

First, I would get your hair mapped out for miniaturization and see if your pattern shows one that is typical for male patterned loss (I am assuming that you are male, if not then there are many other things that can play in the causes of hair loss). Working with a good rheumatologist should shed light on any autoimmune component. Keep with the good doctors you seem to have and pump them for information, adding to it what you might learn from a miniaturization analysis of your hair shafts.

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Hi Dr. Rassman,

I am a 26 y/o male who has been diagnosed with DUPA by one doctor. I went to get a second opinion from another doctor who said I have no balding at all. I have been on propecia for a year and went as far to say that I should stop treatment. I am so confused, frustrated and depressed b/c I don’t know what is going on. I shed so much hair….some is miniturized, some is not. If I gently tug on my hair, I say that 5 times out of 10 a hair will fall out. Do patients with DUPA always end up looking like a Norwood VII? Is there a certain age where DUPA will show its full effects if you destined to be a Norwood VII? Please help Dr. Rassman, I dont know what else to do. Thanks.

You are getting terrible advice from someone. If any of these doctors did not measure your miniaturization, then I would not trust them. If you have DUPA the diagnosis is not rocket science. With DUPA (diffuse unpatterned alopecia), you will have significantly more than 20% miniaturization in the donor area. If you tug on your hair and more than 10% of the hair comes out, then you have a more complex problem. If you are in California, consider visiting me; if you are on the east coast, I’d recommend Dr. Bernstein in New York.

The progressive course of DUPA is not clearly defined by age, but it is often permanent unless it can be positively influenced by Propecia (finasteride). A small percentage of men with DUPA may have benefit from Propecia.

i have been diagnosed with c m l leukemia. for 7 months i have been taking gleevec 400mg by mouth each day. i have been successful with the blood work but my hair is getting thinner each month. first my curly hair went straight, then it began falling out one hair at a time. now it is very thin. do you know if it is permanent? i need some info. can you help?

Generally, hair loss from chemotherapy reverses as the hair cycles out of telogen and into anagen (about 6 months from the end of the chemotherapy). That assumes that you are not a male who is undergoing genetic hair loss as well. In men on chemotherapy who have genetic hair loss as well, some of the genetic process may be accelerated. Much of it should reverse for women and in men over 40 (general rule).

Hi, I have a 9 year old daughter who has a small bald spot on the top of her head. The spot is a little smaller than a dime and is a spreading a little in into an oval. There are a few hairs growing out of it and the skin is a little pink. She also has a dry itchy scalp. My daughter used to have a thick full head of hair, and I also noticed that it is thinner. I did take her to the doctor who told me it was from stress and it should grow back. He said to wait six weeks, but it has been there a couple months already! Would it be obvious to him if is ringworm or alopecia? I am currently waiting to see a dermatlogist because they are booked for a month. Should I be worried? Does it sound like she should see someone sooner?

Thank you for any advise you can give.

Your pediatrician can diagnose and treat ringworm and certainly your dermatologist will have no difficulty making the diagnosis and treating it. See Head Fungus Won’t Go Away.

dear doctor,
i am 22 years old. for these 4 years, my hair has lost several times. in fact the first time happened when i was 9. i got some treatment and it grew back. when i was 19, i noticed that my hair fell out some parts. there were just small parts, round size. then i went to the west china hospital which is the best one in the west of china.the treatment went though half a year and i went to see the doctor once a month.they gave me some chinese medicine and something that i can wipe on the non-hair parts. besides that, every month i was taken an injection on non-hair parts. the name of the medicine for the injection is Diprospan Compound Betamethasone Injection after several months, i was recovered.

but, just after half a year. the problem happened again. and i got the same treatment. then after several months it happened again. so, june, 2006 i went back to hospital again. this time, i didnt take those chinese medicines but only got the injection (i made this decision), but the difference is that the doctor didnt inject on my head but my muscle. then after two injections my hair grew back. but i still got injection once a month and it lasted 3 more month. but last month the trouble came back again.that means i only had half a year happy time. this month i got one injection. i wonder what kind of problem it is? why it happens again and again?

thank you very much, sir!

From your description, it sounds like you have a condition called alopecia areata. Your doctors seem to put it into remission with steroid use. Of course, this is only a guess. For more information on alopecia area, please see the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

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