Category: Hair Diseases

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Is Triangular Alopecia from Menopause? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I saw some of your pictures of triangular alopecia and it seems to be what I’m experiencing except that it is not congenital and I am a 53 years old. Could it be menopause? Is there is anything I could do about it?

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Triangular alopecia is not related to menopause. Triangular alopecia is an entity in and of itself, which both men and women may get and could appear almost any time, but usually is congenital. It can be treated with a hair transplant surgery very successfully.

Triangular alopecia has many appearances, but the common thread is that the hair loss is on the front/side of the scalp. These pictures from Google Image Search give some good examples of the diversity of its presentation.

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In the News – Grandma Tattoos Entire Scalp Instead of Dealing with Wigs to Cover Her Alopecia – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

GrandmaA grandmother left completely bald by alopecia has ditched her wig in favour of something a little more permanent – a tattoo covering her entire head.

Ann McDonald, 60, suffers from alopecia and also has a thyroid problem which resulted in all of her hair falling out three years ago.

The grandmother-of-three was inspired to get the overlapping floral design which cost a £720 after becoming fed up with having to wear wigs and hats.

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Read the rest — Grandmother-of-three faces up to her hair loss in an unusual way

Wow! That is some dedication. Click the link above to see more photos.

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In the News – South Carolina Woman Raises Awareness About Alopecia Universalis – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Faith Spells said it wasn’t always easy to accept her alopecia universalis diagnosis.

The 31-year-old Orangeburg resident has lived with the autoimmune skin disorder since she was 4. Her condition is the most uncommon form of alopecia, and is characterized by hair loss extending beyond the scalp to total body and facial hair loss.

“I remember waking up some days and the hair on one side of my whole head was gone,” Spells said. “It was devastating, but I never really had time to regroup because I was so young. I just knew that my mother and her friends wouldn’t let me go outside if it was too hot because of fear of me getting scarred.”

There is no known cure for the condition, but hair regrowth may occur even without treatment and even after many years, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

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Read the rest — Bold and beautiful: Local woman raises awareness about autoimmune skin disease

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PCOS, Hair Dye, and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am a female that was just diagnosed with PCOS. I would like to know if there is anything I can do to prevent hair loss in the future with my condition? Thank you

I also have a question about bleaching/dyeing. I have dyed my hair a total of 20 times (at 27 years old). I have a sensitive scalp and stopped dyeing my hair because I don’t want anything on my scalp. However, last time I got my hair highlighted, they put a color solution on my scalp. My scalp is extremely sensitive and became red and itchy after 2 minutes of this solution and I made them wash it out. Could that have caused permanent follicle damage, especially in light of my condition?

Thank you

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Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) often produces more androgens and can cause hair loss as a result of these hormones. For a young women, Propecia (finasteride) in contra-indicated because if pregnancy should occur while on this drug, the hormone impact on the fetus will impact the sexual development of the fetus. With this in mind, doctors may make an exception in the use of this drug in a young woman; however, such a patient must not get pregnant. For this reason, I would not prescribe finasteride in a young women.

Dying of the hair should be done by professionals who know how to test for allergies. There is a high degree of allergies with the dyes used, so what you may be experiencing are such allergies.

With regard to damage to the hair follicles, I would have to know much more than what you told here and examine you as well. Get an appointment with your doctor and ask him/her about hair damage.

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Hair Loss InformationShould I Not Take Finasteride If I Have a Long Family History of Cancer? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Dr. Rassman,

My doctor has recommended Finasteride for my hair loss (28, Male, NW 2-3-ish, rapidly receding hairline and rampant loss). However, I recently learnt that finasteride causes breast cancer and very aggressive forms of prostate cancer which are typically beyond treatment, and various other forms of cancer.

Moreover, this is my central cause of worry: Many members of my family have expired due to cancer. My maternal grandmother, my mother’s twin sister, and my father (hodgkin’s disease). In my case, does Finasteride increase the likelihood of me developing some form of cancer? Or am I no different from regular candidates whose family history isn’t markedly carcinogenic like mine?

I understand that you are in no position to provide any subjective information pertaining to my particular case, without having see or diagnosed me, so please treat this as a general question.

In your experience, do you feel Finasteride would be extremely dangerous and significantly increase the likelihood for developing cancer in balding-folks whose family history is carcinogenic?

Thanks

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Step back and think about what you just asked me. Why would a doctor prescribe a “dangerous” or “cancer causing” medication to you? Finasteride does not cause cancer and is not a “dangerous” medication. There are studies that suggest that Propecia (finasteride) decreases prostate cancer. There are also confounding studies that suggest for those men who end up with prostate cancer, the cancer may be more aggressive. This does not mean it causes cancer. I’ve written about this many times before, including here, here, and here.

I do not know of any study that suggests finasteride causes breast cancer. Breast cancer in men is rare and it has been reported in men who take finasteride, but the causality is not clear.

In the end, I strongly urge you to speak to your doctor about these issues and your medical and family history.

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Hair Loss InformationIs There More DUPA Today or Are People Just More Aware of It? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Is there an influx in people with diffuse unpatterned alopecia nowadays or is the internet just making people more aware of this sort of hair loss?

I’ve been using the internet for the past 7 years and initially information about DUPA was scarce, in fact your website was the first place I ever saw a mention of it. and now you can find hundreds of topics from all over the web talking about DUPA.

when did you personally start noticing this type of hair loss?

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When we wrote about DUPA in the medical literature back in 1995 (PDF here), the diagnosis required that the physician look at the donor area with high power magnification.

With my invention of the hair densitometer with patent issued in 1994 (U.S. Patent 5,331,472 – Method and Apparatus for Measuring Hair Density July, 1994) the ability to look at the donor area was made feasible. It took quite a few years and constant physician education by myself and Dr. Bernstein to show the importance of this diagnosis. Doctors who had hair transplant failures discovered DUPA and then began to be a big fan of doing the high powered examination to avoid tackling such patients with surgical procedures.

To answer your question, education takes time and the doctors slowly began including the diagnosis in the range of possibilities in patients. As a result, more and more emphasis of this technology was brought to the public. The internet and this site also probably helped get the word out.

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Hair Loss InformationIn the News – Patients with Rapidly Progressive Alopecia Areata Have Good Prognosis – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Patients with rapidly progressive alopecia areata (RPAA) tend to show favorable prognosis regardless of treatment selected, according to research published online Sept. 24 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Over a three-year period, Masaki Uchiyama, M.D., from the Tokyo Medical University, and colleagues retrospectively analyzed 1,030 patients diagnosed with AA.

The researchers found that patients with regenerated vellus hairs showed a significantly higher improvement or cure rate regardless of AA severity. Lower rates of cure and higher rates of relapse were significantly associated with early onset and lengthy duration. Regardless of treatment utilized, RPAA patients tended to show a good prognosis.

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Read the rest — Rapidly progressive alopecia shows favorable prognosis

You can read the study abstract at the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

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Hair Loss InformationIn the News – Woman with Trichotillomania Pretended to Have Alopecia Areata – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

A mum who has hidden behind the hair loss condition alopecia for the last 20 years has bravely revealed a secret compulsion to tear out her own hair that has tormented her since she was a child.

Zena Williams was called ’cancer face’ for wearing a wig at school and for more than two decades she has allowed anyone who noticed her bald patches to believe that she has the auto immune condition that causes her hair to fall out on its own. But in the wake of No Pulling Week, the mum-of-one has finally revealed that she has been pulling out her own hair since she was a child.

At various stages in her life, Zena has been left almost completely bald by her compulsive addiction to hair-pulling – a little understood psychological condition called trichotillomania.

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Read the rest — Mum pretended to have alopecia for 20 years – in fact she was pulling all her hair out

Unfortunately, decades of pulling out her hair probably has resulted in some permanent loss. She says she has stopped pulling out her scalp hair, but still pulls out arm and leg hair. Hopefully she gets some sort of treatment for this compulsion.

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Could My Hair Loss Be From Having Diabetic Ketoacidosis? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

(female)
I have lost about 70% of my hair since January and am unsure if it was due to having diabetic ketoacidosis. I do have some regrowth but my hair is very thin, especially around my forehead hairline. Is this from the dka and will it grow back or should I see a dr.? I asked my endocrinologist but they said there could be a lot of reasons. I’m really concerned and don’t know if I should wait it out or seek further medical advice.

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Diabetic ketoacidosis is a potentially life threatening condition. It is a major stress to your body, which could be one of the many possible reasons you are experiencing hair loss (much like what your doctor already told you). The most important point is to get your health back in shape and control the diabetes. If the hair loss is from stress, it should recover within a year.

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Could My Hair Loss Be From Stopping My Thyroid Medication? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

(female)
I would like to know if my hair loss sides front and back are a result of my doctor taking me off of thyroid medication. I was on 50mcgs and after he took me off of it i sustained an incredible amount of hair loss.

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If your thyroid hormone levels are normal, I wouldn’t expect issues with hair loss. Usually people with high or low thyroid hormone levels experience thinning of their hair. Doctors generally monitor their patients thyroid levels and adjust the medication based on blood tests.

So stopping or starting thyroid medications is not the issue, but rather it is your own thyroid hormone levels that should be of importance.