Female Hair Loss – Page 91

January 11, 2006

Hair Loss After Brow Lift – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I really appreciate your informative and straight-forward approach to our hair concerns.

I have had a brow lift a little over a month ago. While the surgery was for the most part very successful, I was not prepared for the hair loss that preceeded it. I was told by the surgeon that my hairline would actually be lower afterwards. That was NOT the case.

The hair loss is along the incision line. It is more “loss” than just thinning. I was told not to worry that it would grow back.

My questions are:

1. What is the chances that the hair will return?
2. Would Propecia help?
3. About how long does the scalp normally stay numb?
4. How long should I wait to see regrowth before having hair restoration to correct it?
5. After hair restoration, how long will it be before I can do strenuous exercise and swim?

Thank you

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There is a good chance that some or all of the hair will return, but brow lift scars are often detectable due to some widening of the scar when the incision was done behind the hairline and hair loss risks when the incision is done in front of the hairline to lower it. Sometimes during the type of procedure you had, the blood flow to the hair follicles can be interrupted resulting in a temporary loss. Occasionally it is permanent, but in most cases you should be able to see some regrowth within 3-6 months. Most doctors will wait up to a year before giving up on seeing some growth return, and that is about the time you can consider a hair transplant surgeon to correct it if needed.

As for your other questions, if you had a hair restoration procedure, you would need to wait a week before resuming very strenuous exercise and you’d need to wait until the wound has completely healed before swimming. Propecia is a DHT blocker which prevents male pattern/genetic hair loss and it is not proven safe for women, so it will not help. The scalp numbness does not usually last more than a year (often weeks or month and is rarely permanent). Finally, time is really the most important commodity for you to evaluate your loss/regrowth. Wait for the regrowth and follow-up frequently with your surgeon.

Of interest, this complication is the most common reason women get hair transplantation (at least in our hair restoration practice), which does not reflect its incidence (of let’s say in 100 women with brow lifts), but it does tell you that it is not an uncommon problem.

January 11, 2006

Hair is Thin After Highlighting – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I am a 47 year old woman who had slight graying hair. My hairdresser talked me into highlighting my hair. She used a volume 20 bleach and a toner. 24 hours later I had itching, burning and swelling and saw my allergist. He put me on prednisone for a week and cortisone lotions. A month later my hair feels like cotton as the strands of hair are thinner, breaking off at the crown and generally coming out at the root after washing/combing.

What if anything can I now do? Obviously, I will never again use chemicals on my hair.

You have likely had a chemical Alopecia (hair loss) with a skin reaction. I know exactly what you are going through (having had a spiral perm in the eighties with the same thing happen) and although it is likely all your hair will grow back just as it was, it will take time, especially if you wear your hair long. Avoiding harsh shampoos and conditioning your hair regularly may help the hair that is there, but little will help it grow faster which is what really needs to happen. Concealing options like hats, scarves, and Toppik are all options as well. If this condition persists past 6 months, I would recommend a follow-up visit to your doctor to determine if anything else is going on.

January 10, 2006

Hair Loss InformationZelnorm, Birth Control, Diet and Hair Loss in Teenage Female – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

i am 19 years old / female. when i was younger, in my middle teen years i had thick, thick hair, now its so thin. whenever i take a shower i lose so much hair its ridiculous. i’ve been using mousse for my hair for a long time. i started really using it when i was about 14-15 years old, but now i use it frequently in my hair but i never put in on my scalp. i always put it in the middle to the ends of my hair. i colored my hair once and that was when i was 15-16 yrs. old, and i’ve been smoking marijuana for about 2-3 years, but not every day. i also started two new pills, one is a birth control pill levora. i’ve been taking that for a year and the other the one is zelnorm. ive been taking that for 4 months now. my question is what could be the cause of this? my mother has noticed my hair loss, and i’m scared i could go bald at a young age. i’ve lost so much hair in the past year or two. could what i’m doing or taking be the cause or what????

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Birth control pill could potentially cause hair loss. However, Zelnorm does not directly cause hair loss. Zelnorm is for (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) IBS with constipation symptoms. Patients with IBS may have a nutrient deficiency leading to hair loss, so a focus upon your diet may be appropriate. There are many causes for female hair loss. I recommend that you visit your physician for blood work to rule out anemia and hypothyroidism, which could also potentially cause hair loss. The general causes for hair loss are hypothyroidism, alopecia areata, androgenic alopecia, repeatedly over plucking, eyebrows lifting, trichotillomania, stress, chemotherapy, radiation, eczema, seborrhea, scleroderma, lupus, hormonal imbalance, psoriasis, parasites, fungal, autoimmune disorders, poor diet, poor nutrients, burn, trauma, leprosy, and drugs. The common medications which may cause hair loss are beta-blocker, coumadin, oral contraceptive pill, antibiotics and chemo-medications.

Genetic hair loss starts in some women as early as 17-19 years of age. You need a complete examination for miniaturization to make the diagnosis, one way or the other. Get a good hair doctor, as that is critical for you to have a better understanding of what is happening to you.

January 9, 2006

Hair Loss InformationFemale Hair Loss from Iron Deficiency? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am 29 years old and am losing hair. After the shower I can see lot of hair fallen around. In my diet, I dont include iron-rich food. Would it be a possible reason for hair loss? Can you suggest a good diet for preventing hair loss?

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Speak to your doctor and have your iron levels measured. This is an important step if you think that you have an iron deficiency, a common occurrence in women. Historically, women needed to eat meat to replace the iron they lose from menstruation which is why iron deficiency is not uncommon in women. A good general diet with red meat may be all that you need if your iron levels are bordering on the low level, otherwise, see you doctor and get his/her recommendation. If you have hair loss, then as I’ve suggested many times in this blog, you need a good examination for miniaturization to get the best diagnosis for cause.

January 9, 2006

Hair Loss InformationShould I Start Using Rogaine for Women? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am a 27 year old, female of indian ethnicity. I always had extremely thick hair, but have noticed over the last 5-7 years, a dramatic reduction in my thickness (probably half the thickness it used to be). Admittedly my hair is probably still considered thick, but I am concerned that at the rate of my hair loss it could become dramatically worse, and want to prevent this from happening. My mother’s hair has dramatically thinned (you can see her scalp visibly) and I am hoping that is not what I am getting. I do notice slight regrowth but this does not seem sufficient to be replacing all my lost hair.

I notice that I lose a lot of hair in the shower, when I style my hair, and anytime I just pull my hair together, and also see that I lose strands of hair throughout the day (my floor perpetually has a lot of hair on it and my clothes usually grab a fair number of hairs as well). I have been perpetually on different antibiotics for acne for about the last 10 years (not sure if this is an influence).

I want to start using Rogaine for Women but am not sure if I am too young for this, and also dont want to use this unnecessarily. Can you please tell me if I can/should be using a product like this? Also, should I see a doctor regarding this (what type of doctor is best), and what tests should I be asking for? Any feedback you have would be appreciated.

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Self-diagnosis is difficult for me to recommend, because if you have a medical condition causing the hair loss, then you will not get a proper diagnosis. As I’ve said before, there many reasons for hair loss in women, including hypothyroidism, ezcema, alopecia areata, telogen effluvium, lupus, drugs, stress, crash diet, and infections. As you will see when reviewing the list of problems, hair loss in women is not as straight forward as in most men. Before starting more medications, you should get a metric (measurement) to get your scalp mapped out for miniaturization to determine if you have premature genetic balding for women.

A good dermatologist or family doctor can perform the basic blood tests and a dermatologist will be able to do biopsies when appropriate. Rogaine for Women may work if you do not have one of the medical conditions listed above.

January 6, 2006

Hair Loss InformationThinning Hairline in African-American Woman – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am a 42 y/o black female. My hair started thinning around the hairline about 2 years ago. At first I thought it was some of the chemicals being used by my hair stylist. I have changed to another stylist, but the problem persits. I recently went to a dermatologist who started me on Rogaine. However, the site for Rogaine states that it is for hairloss in the top of the scalp. Is there any treatments that will help thinning hair around the hairline? I understand that this is uncommon for women? Please help, this has effected me emotionally.

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There are a few important issues to address in your question. The first thing to note is that all salons use similar chemicals so you might want to stop chemically treating your hair altogether for several months to see if it recovers. The second issue is whether or not you have a tight braid/ponytail type of hairstyle or have had recent facial plastic surgery (like a brow or a face lift) since both of these can result in the hairline thinning you describe. You are correct in that women rarely lose their hairline with female pattern/genetic hair loss, but it can happen and that is why you should be examined by a doctor who specializes in hair with an indepth assessment for miniaturization.

Finally, Rogaine has been studied best at the top of the scalp, but I have seen some hairline results in women so it is worth a try. Unfortunately for women, there are no medical alternatives for thinning hair other than Rogaine. It is also noteworthy that hairloss can profoundly affect a woman’s emotional health, much more so than with men although men suffer hairloss more commonly. I would urge you not only to proactively address the hair loss, but to take steps to treat the emotional impact it is having on you as well.

January 5, 2006

Hair Loss from Tuberculosis? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

My 17 years old daughter was diagnosed with inactive tuberculosis about 8 months ago and has been taking INH. However, about 18 months ago she started losing her hair. Could this be caused by the tuberculosis alone?

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I have written on this medication with tuberculosis before (see Tuberculosis Drug and Hair Loss). The disease itself is a wasting disorder which is known to produce hair loss, as with other wasting disorders. The same recommendations I made before apply: good diet and appropriate vitamin therapy. A full work-up for female hair loss is in order here as there are many diseases that cause hair loss in women (see Female Hair Loss category). Read these pages carefully and seek out a good doctor to follow through with a thorough examination of your daughter. Also, you might want her to see a hair specialist who will study her for female genetic hair loss and assess the miniaturization of her hair to see if the pattern is typical of female genetic hair loss.

January 5, 2006

Female Hair Loss — What to Do? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I have been losing my hair for years. I’ve been a sucker for many high priced hoaxes and am now to the point where the comb over is barely hiding it anymore. I’ve lost so much of my hair on the front/top and am ashamed to even look in the mirror, I feel like crying each morning when I style my hair. When people look at me I can’t help but feel like they are laughing, I’m only 30. I had asked my doctor awhile back (when I was about 22-23), but his advice to me was to learn to live with it, there’s nothing that can be done for hair loss. Please, is there any product out there that you would recommend for me to research, (I know in the medical world you can’t recommend a product for me to try), so all I’m asking for is a point in the right direction. Every time I try I just feel more defeated, there are so many products out there, I know most of them are little more than snake oil. Please please help-I don’t know where else to turn for an unbiased recommendation.

I hesitated to write an answer to you because I did not want to contribute to the many failures of treatments you have experienced. It sounds like you are accepting your balding without having a medical work-up. Please review the many pages of answers in the Female Hair Loss category, and then get a good doctor who will work as a professional in helping you to surround the diagnosis and treatment for your hair loss. Good luck.

January 4, 2006

Search Results for “seasons” – WRassman,M.D. BaldingBlog

I have heard some of my patients reporting that they lose hair during certain seasons. Humans have asynchronous hair cycling, which means that we generally shed uniformly over the entire hair cycle of about 36 months. We lose about 100 hairs per day and replace that number each and every day. Animals have synchronous hair […]

January 4, 2006

Tryptophan and Hair Loss? – Balding Blog

I am a 39 year old female experiencing hairloss all over, with more concentration in the frontal area. I became infertile with low estrogen in my early 30s, went on testosterone cream supplement for 8-9 months after that, but primarily suspect that my hair loss is due to the L-tryptophan I’ve been taking for the last 2 years for my mood, which has worked wonderfully for me as an antidepressant (from 1000 mg to 2500 mg.).

If I get off the Tryptophan will my hair grow back? Otherwise, I may need a referral for a doctor in the San Jose or San Francisco Bay Area, and to find another anti-depressant…that doesn’t cause hair loss???

Thank you

There are some suggestions that tryptophan can cause hair loss and yet other suggestions that it does not effect hair loss. As a metabolic intermediate in the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin (5-HTP), some believe that in selective sensitive patients it may cause hair loss in its derivative form. Chemotoxicity is not my specialty and this is frankly beyond my skills and knowledge. Your conclusions on finding a doctor that can manage your anti-depressant medications is appropriate, but I do not have a referral for you. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.