Hair Loss Causes – Page 305

March 14, 2006

Chemical Trauma, Stress, and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello Dr. Rassman,

I’m 18 years old, female, and over the past few months (I’d say about 4-6 months) I’ve been noticing my hair thinning above my ears and towards the back of my head. Over the past 4-6 months I had a terrible hair dye job occur when I was forced to get my hair bleached in order to remove the colour, in turn my hair turned a greenish/red from the bleach so I had to go BACK in to have it re-dyed. I’d say I’ve had it fixed about 3-4 times within the past couple months. Could that play a role as to why it is thinning? I’ve spoken to my Doctors and my blood tests for Anemia, Thyroid Dysfunction, Liver & Kidney disease all came back within normal limits.

I’ve been experiencing tremendous problems with my IBS as well. Seems as though these past couple months have been some of the most stressful I’ve ever had. So basically, could the chemical trauma my hair has been through more then likely be a result to my hair thinning? I’ve been taking vitamins with Biotin in them, about 6mg a day. And I’m going in to my stylist to have a foundation treatment done on my scalp.

Am I going in the right direction considering taking action for my thinning hair? Any suggestions or advice?

Thanx so much! this site is great!

I am sorry to hear there has been so much stress in your life. Emotional stress in itself can cause hair loss. Added to that, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) has also been linked with hair loss. To make your situation worse, chemical hair dyes and bleach can also be a cause of hair loss. It seems that you are taking the right approach to promote a healthier hair/ scalp environment. However, it is not a guarantee for hair growth. The best thing going for you is a good bill of health from your doctors. Your body should hopefully take care of the rest. Keep away from the chemicals for your hair and you might have to wait a full year to see the benefits of time.

March 14, 2006

Dandruff and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I grew my hair for a good 10 months before cutting it much shorter because it was too messy, it has been 3 months since. I have noticed my hair is much thinner at the front of my head, i’m 18 years old and this is quite distressing…How do i know if this is baldness or just because i grew my hair for so long? I also get a lot of dandruff, could this be the cause?

Neither dandruff or leaving your hair long will cause hair loss. Otherwise, most of the rock stars with long hair will be bald by now. You need your hair mapped out for miniaturization to determine if you really have early male patterned balding. Visit a dermatologist or a hair doc to get this evaluation.

March 13, 2006

Heater Causing Female Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I am a 69 year old retired female. I live in a one bedroom apartment in a block of 12 apartments. Unfortunately my apartment is situated over the boiler unit that heats this entire block of apartments. Last winter I began noticing my hair falling out in February. This continued throughout the early Spring. Testings have eliminated thyroid and testosterone problems. I’ve been diagnosed with female allopecia. However, during the warmer months and summer I stopped losing hair and regrowth began. However, two weeks after the boiler unit was restarted in November, I experienced more hair loss during every shower and combing. I now have to wear a wig due to huge losses. I do have an appointment with a Dermatologist next week. However, I do not think it a coincidence that my hair falls out only during heating season. I believe it is related to the combustion process of this boiler or a malfunction of some sort. Management will be no help without proof of some sort. Any info would be extremely helpful. Is the chemical Chloroprene involved in this process? Thank you

Humans have asynchronous hair cycling, which means that we do not shed hair like other mammals that lose hair in the summer and grow their hair/fur in the winter months. In your case though, it sounds like the heat of the boiler running in the winter is contributing to your hair loss, despite what I have just said. Sorry, but a visit with a good doctor is needed to evaluate the many causes of hair loss in women. This is one of those situations where too many factors which could lead to female hair loss might be in play, preventing me from giving a more specific response.

March 13, 2006

Low Iron and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi, Im am 35 Female. Last summer I started to have a swollen feeling near my tonsils. I have difficulty swallowing. I always use couph drops because its a relief for my swollen feeling. It doesn’t hurt, just feels swollen. A few months later around Sept, I noticed my hair getting really really dry. Now its falling out and has been since Dec. It falls out in handfulls everyday. I lost over 100 hairs in one day and this is a daily thing now. I went to the doctors, My ferriton level was the only thing out of range. Everything else is within normal limits. My ferriton is at 7 So Im on Iron suppliments as well as B12 and a Multivitamin. I had rapid heart rates, but I think its calmed down since the Iron therapy. The doctor told me to gargle with peroxide. She didn’t really focus too much on my throat problem, and actually she didn’t even look in my mouth. Could this be something else other than anemia? And could throat thing be the main reason that caused my hair to fall out? and why Im not getting the Iron I need?

Thank you for your time

Low iron indicates anemia may be present, a known cause of hair loss. Being sick brings on phyical and emotional stress which could lead to hair loss as well. The cause for iron deficiency could be from improper diet or even by worms and other blood born parasites (unlikely in North America). I can not comment on the topic of your throat problem and its relationship to hair loss.

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March 10, 2006

Eyebrow and Pubic Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Can I grow eyebrow hair by applying Rogaine (minoxidil) to the minimal eyebrow hair that now exists?

Also, would I bring my concerns about eyebrow hair loss (I also have completely lost my pubic hair which doesn’t bother me) to a dermatologist rather than internist? What related lifestyle, medical, physical, emotional information should I note to give the physician the information needed to make a proper diagnosis? Do you recommend any physicians in the Boston area who are experts in the area of eyebrow hair loss in women and corrective transplant?

I really appreciate being able to ask questions based on the information you provide on your website. Thank you again. I look forward to your guidance with this matter.

Rogaine should not grow eyebrow hair where there is none. A dermatologist would help you with the correlation between pubic and eyebrow hair, if any. The physician will know what to ask you to help make a diagnosis.

March 10, 2006

Lost Hair at Hairline After Damaging Hair With Bleach – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I am female and recently bleached my hair and then dyed it. The problem is that I lost track of time while bleaching and left it on way too long. Not realizing the extent of the damage, I then put a color on it. A couple of days later, when I pulled my hair back I realized that my hair line had receded noticeably in certain areas leading me to believe that I melted my hair to the scalp in those places. My questions are: will my hair grow back in those spots and will I continue to lose my hair? I am seeing a stylist in a couple of days to have it cut very short to try to minimize more damage through breakage but would like to know what kind of fallout I can expect — unfortunately, I have no one to blame but myself in this situation and realize that your forum is for those experiencing some very devastating conditions and although my situation seems vain in comparison any answers you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

The good news is that your hair will likely grow back. The bad news is that you will have to be patient and wait until the hair grows back. In the mean time, I suspect you will come up with a new creative hair style — you have little choice.

March 9, 2006

Depressed Over Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I had major hair shedding at age 19-20 all of a sudden. My father said he experienced the same (!) when he was young and he’s now 51 and still has a full head of hair, he just loses a lot (but he has a lot of hairs just like me). But his father went bald in his mid 20’s and because the hairloss was so agressive (you could compare it to the shedding of hair from animals at a certain period in the year) i thought for sure i was going the same way. So I visited 3 doctors/dermatologists and they all concluded it was genetic hairloss, although they didn’t seem to know much about how hairloss/hormones exactly work and were easily agitated when you asked a lot of questions.
Anyhow, i got prescribed proscar together with minoxidil (and nizoral shampoo) and took it for 1-1.5 years, after that I just stopped taking it, followed by rather intensive hairloss (which is normal, and it wasnt the same as when i was 19) i never saw a bald spot. Now at age 25 I still have all my hairs left, although I do lose a lot of them, there’s never a bald spot. I should have listened to my father who said he experienced exactly the same thing(!) when he was younger, he’s now 51 and he still has a full head, and yes he also loses a lot of hairs on a daily basis.(we both have a lot of hairs aswell).

Since i know for a fact that my father and brother both grew (2-3 inches, 5’9 and 5’11 respectively) after the age of 18 and i didn’t (i was 5’7.5 at age 15-16 and still am at age 24) i am very certain that massive hairloss was a testorone surge, and as such probably the start of a second growth spurt.
And i’m quite certain that because of taking proscar I caused premature closure of the growth plates (more production of estrogen due to DHT blocking?). Is this hypothesis correct Dr.Rassman? It’s really depressing to know that one small pill can mess your future up in such a grave way, as my height truly bothers me now. I thank you in advance for your effort.

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I am not sure what you are asking. I assume that you lost hair after you stopped taking Propecia and minoxidil and that you noticed that more hair is falling out, yet you still have a full head of hair. Stopping these medications should not cause you to lose more hair than you would have ordinarily lost. I use the term ‘catch-up hair loss’ which means that your hair and scalp will behave the way it wound have gone without the retardation impact of these mediations on your hair. Now you are saying that you have a reasonable head of hair, but that there still may be thinning present and want to know if short term bursts of testosterone could cause hair loss. The answer to this question is yes, but generally when this happens, the lost hair is permanently lost. I have discussed many times on this blog, the need to have your scalp mapped out for miniaturization to establish a working diagnosis. If you have miniaturization in any pattern, you may still lose hair, so one would want this process to be an intelligent process with some metrics to understand what is changing on your head over time.

March 9, 2006

Hair Grows to Half Inch, Then Falls Out – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Well I have a question. I’m trying to grow my hair, this is my third time trying, but when ever I get to a certain length it just stops’ growing and it starts falling out. I’m a 23year old African-American male. I don’t have a receding hair-line and its just weird that when my hair gets to be about half an inch it just start falling out. I have used and still use all of the “DO GROWN” products, and still I can not figure out why my hair falls off. I wash my hair once a week, I always put SULFER8 twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I don’t know what to do. Can you help me??

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Generally, hair has a cycle that lasts from 2-6 years in my experience. I have always believed that if you let your hair grow out to its full length, take that length and divide it by 1/2 (in inches) and you will get the hair cycle. In your case, if your maximal growth is 1/2 inch, then that would tell me that your hair growth cycle is 1-2 months. If you hair grew slower, then the cycle could be longer.

I have questions for you:

Does it grow to 1/2 inch everywhere, or just in one area?
What about the hair around the sides and back?
With African hair, the length must reflect the straight hair for the calculations above. If you hair is wiry, then you may not be measuring length, but perhaps height. How are you measuring that it is 1/2 inch length?

Practing medicine over the internet is not an easy eask when I can not examine you directly. Miniaturization metrics through mapping your scalp would be a helpful thing for me to do, to help you understand what is happening on your head.

March 9, 2006

Ringworm and Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

My doctor said Rudolphs hair loss was caused by ringworm. Is this possible?

Sorry, Rudolph? Am I missing something?

Though this link is a press release for a ringworm treatment, it does contain some information about the ringworm / hair loss connection: Premature Hair Loss? Could Be Ringworm.

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March 7, 2006

10 Months Since Chemo And Hair Has Still Not Fully Regrown – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

My son who is 21 completed a 4 cycle chemo treatment in May 05. Today his hair is still very thin, fine and spots of balding. I have left a message today with his doctor for some advise when I saw your web page. Any suggestions? I know hair growth takes a while but it is going on 10 months now. Thanks!

Hair loss during and after chemotherapy is one of the most distressing side effects. Hair loss occurs because chemotherapy targets all living cells in the body including hair follicle cells. Simply put, chemotherapy is poison to all living cells. It is a medical balancing game where the cancer cells are killed before the chemotherapy kills you.

Hair follicle cells have three phases of growth:

Growth phase (Anagen phase) which lasts anywhere from 2 to 6 years. This is the phase where your hair is actively growing at approximately 10cm per year. 85% of hair is at this phase at any given time.
Transitional phase (Catagen phase) which lasts about 2 weeks. This is the phase where the hair follicle shrinks and prepares to enter the resting phase.
Resting phase (Telogen phase) which lasts about 1- 2 months. This is the phase where hair does not grow but stays attached to the follicle. Some hairs are shed at this phase, but at the end the hair follicle re-enters the growth phase to start the cycle over again. 10-15% of hairs are at this phase at any given time.

During chemotherapy, hair in the growth phase is most affected due to the active nature of the hair follicle. Ideally, hair lost during chemotherapy should start to grow after 3 to 6 months. Unfortunately, new hair may grow thinner, slower, or with different texture or color.

Your son’s hair growth seems to be returing, but at a much slower rate than you have anticipated. This may be due to the 4 cycles of chemotherapy. This may also be due to the fact that your son’s body is recovering at a different rate than expected. It may just be a normal recovery pace for your son. Ultimately, if your son is healthy and is in remission, that is the most important priority. Neverthess, hair loss is certainly the most visible and distressing side effect of chemotherapy and a stigmata of cancer. There are a number of support groups and wigs available to chemotherapy patients, which are sometimes even covered by insurance companies. Finally, topical creams or Propecia would not be of benefit for hair loss from chemotherapy.

By Dr. Jae Pak and Dr. William Rassman

[Note: This blog entry has been answered by Dr. Jae Pak, who has been working with Dr. Rassman for the past 9 years developing new surgical instruments and hair transplant procedures.]