Hi Doc,

I am 34 yrs old and I suffered from typhoid in the months of march-april 2012 and since mid May I am experiencing severe hair loss. I never had issues of Dandruff or any other scalp related diseases. What are the chances of hair regrowth and how long with the hair fall continue? I am currently taking Xtraglo tablet at night and an Iron tablet in the morning.

Hair loss can arise from extreme stress and medical illness. It generally reverses and hairs do grow back provided that the patient did not accelerate the male pattern balding that he may have had from his genetics. It does take up to a full year at the least for the hair to return.

The authors of a recently published article show that a specific genetic locus was identified on Chromosome 20, which is associated with Parkinson’s disease, that is also a susceptibility locus for early-onset genetic balding. The study was conducted in 12,806 individuals of European ancestry who had early-onset genetic balding. There was a high degree of confidence in the reported statistics.

The suggestion is that individuals with early onset genetic balding have a 6 fold increase in the risk for Parkinson’s Disease (7,664 cases of Parkinson’s Disease was studied). This data was published in Public Library of Science, and you can read it here.

With the advent of wide scale genetic testing, we are now finding relationships between the genes we carry and various diseases that run in family lines. I registered on 23andMe some time ago. When you register on this site, you send saliva samples along with the registration. From this, the company compares you with an expanding database of people and their genetic make-up. Risk of disease is sent to you and as new genetic testing is developed, you can see your ever-changing risks of various diseases. What this means is that, for example, you have a higher risk of heart disease than the average person, you can take steps early in your life to mitigate that risk. I would suggest that you may find it interesting to look at the 23andMe site.

My seven year old son is suffering from Alopecia areata since december 2010 (first appearance: 7 spots of different sizes, stopped in june 2011, regrowth till mid-end september 2011, then hair loss starts again on other places, stopped in november 2011 and normal growth till february, new hairloss with 7 spots, actually regrowth…). A lack of vitamin D(25-OH vitamine D2-D3 is 10,7 ng/ml) has been diagnosed by a physician (who has some experience with AA patients) and he prescribed a vitamin D cure (choleciferol 25000 UI twice a week for one month, than once a week for two more months). But the dermatologist that is treating the AA thinks that this treatment is useless and that it could be harmful (he said that he would not administer vitamine D to his own kids…).

So my question: is there a risk for my son? can it help to cure the AA (or at least have less hairloss, longer periods without hairloss…)

I am not your doctor, nor your son’s doctor, and I am not an expert in vitamin D deficiency, so I couldn’t give you a personalized answer. If you’re concerned about one doctor’s recommendation, consider getting a second opinion.

I do know that alopecia areata is a self limiting condition that will resolve without any treatment in some people. A good resource for alopecia areata information is the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. I don’t know that they would consider vitamin D as a “cure” though.

Does those who haven’t balding issue will then never experimented BPH issue (Enlarged Prostate Symptom) ?

since both have the same cause ?

thanks

The connection between prostate hypertrophy and balding does not appear connected. There is, however, an association between early genetic balding and prostate cancer (see here.