(female) I was put on 40 milligrams of prednisone after I got out of the hospital from a major infection… ulcerative colitis. I was on predisone for a month. Well, a month later after I stopped it, I starting losing my hair. Could this be caused by the prednisone? (I was also on Asacol too.)
The entire stressful experience may have precipitated a telogen effluvium. Hopefully it will reverse on its own in 4-8 months. Both medications and the illness you had could have caused the hair loss.
Hi, I am a 13-year old female girl. A few months ago in December 2007, I got a haircut and noticed a bald spot about the size of a dime on top of my head a few days later. I was really worried, and told my parents about it. They said me that it was due to stress in school etc., but I wasn’t completely sure.
It is now February. I’ve noticed a few days ago that there was a small part above my forehead that had very little hair (I have bangs). I have a feeling that I’ve been losing more hair, but I could be overreacting. I think that the previous bald spot had expanded.
My parents have made an appointment with the doctor, I will probably be going to see her in a week or so. Since I was a baby, I’ve had eczema, a skin condition, and I don’t know if it has any links to it. I don’t really remember, but my dad told me that around 5 years ago I’ve had this hair problem. The doctor gave me some medicine to put on my hair, and it seemed to work.
After looking on the internet for information, I’m really worried about any conditions I might have. I’m scared I’ll lose all my hair in the next few months or so. Any info will be greatly appreciated, thank you so much.
The right thing to do would be to see a doctor. There are many causes of bald spots appearing, some of which have been discussed on this site before (ringworm, alopecia areata, etc.). A doctor should give you a diagnosis after an in-person exam. Via the internet and based on just an email, I would just be blindly guessing.
For the past several months, I had noticed my scalp progressively showing through just behind the crown of my head. During this time, I had not noticed excessive hairs falling out, in my hairbrush or in the shower. I’ve been doing my hair in a ponytail for the last 2-4 years. I first went to see my GP a few weeks ago, she did my bloodwork and referred me to a dermatologist. At the time of the appointment, the dermatologist had not yet received the bloodwork results. He spent a few minutes with me and prescribed the following:
- Rogaine 5% for men daily at night
- DHS Free and Clear shampoo daily for 6 days per week
- Salex shampoo 1 day a week
- Betamethasone valerate cream after shampooing.
- Appearex Biotin 2.5mg daily
- Vicogen 1 daily (a multivitamin)
A few days later, I received my bloodwork results which are all in the normal range. I am a 44 year old female. I am not sure if I should start this treatment plan or not. My GP had mentioned that the dermatologist may do a biopsy of the hairs, but he did not talk about that and when I mentioned it, he said it was not necessary.
Please advise, thank you so much!
It looks like he’s just throwing everything at you and hoping something will work. Ask him directly and try to find out:
I do not know what your dermatologist’s line of thinking was.
Dear Dr. Rassman,
I am writing to you because I would greatly appreciate your opinion as I have read much about you in the past and know you have a wonderful reputation when it comes to hair loss. I am a 48 year old female who has been around the block for several years dealing with AGA since my twenties. I know I carry a predisposition to it, (Dad, brother, Grand dad all went bald early) but assume it was aggravated by the high androgen birth control pills I took for several years as well.I have tried everything under the sun including avodart for the past two years (which did not work for me, and therefore I went off a month ago) and since December have been using rogaine 5% foam twice a day on most days, the hair max laser comb 3 times a week, taking a hair vitamin containing saw palmetto and other hair friendly vitamins, and trying to eat a well balanced diet. I also was diagnosed with hypothyroid and am currently taking “synthroid” for the past couple years for an underactive thryroid, which I can’t tell if it is making the hair loss worse or not, even though it is suppose to help treat hair loss. I have been taking yasmin now for at least 5 years which is suppose to be a more hair friendly bcp.
(my questions are as follows: Is it worth it for me to see an endocronologist to conduct more tests other than thyroid, and iron levels (normal) at this point in my life? I went to a supposed expert dermatologist here in Boston several years ago who basically took a quick look and said genetic, and dismissed me telling me to try minoxidil..( I never did at that point). I would like to know if you think I have all the basis covered since at 48 I will be entering menopause soon, and can’t afford any more hair loss!
I was told I was not a good candidate for hair transplant, too much hair, and too thin all over and the results would not be any better than what I already have.
I really would appreciate your feed back.. Thank you so much.
You have a double combination of low thyroid and genetic hair loss. In women I have seen, when genetic hair loss is present and low thyroid precipitates more, even correcting the thyroid does not often help. Seeing another doctor may have value, but I am not hopeful. The appearance of menopause adds the third negative, which may or may not make you worse. The use of Rogaine Foam is a good choice and you will have to wait 1-2 years to see the benefits of this treatment. Sorry I can’t be more helpful. I am waiting for some drugs to be introduced or better research which may show us better what is happening to folks like you.
Dear Doctor,
I’m a 35 yr old female who was put on Lexapro to combat mild depression last Thanksgiving. After two weeks of taking the drug, my hair began to fall out in large clumps leaving me with bald spots. I contacted my doctor and she told me to stop taking the Lexapro as it this is a known side effect. I am not taking a replacement drug as my depression was only mild and the hair loss has scared me enough for now. The hair stopped falling out 7 to 10 days after I stopped taking the Lexapro. Luckily, I had long thick hair and even though I lost about 15% to 20% of my hair it was not extremely obvious. However, I have been waiting patiently for my hair to start growing back, but the bald spots are still bald. How long should it take before the hair starts growing back as it has been over ten weeks? I would think that by now I’d see at least some stubbles of new hair growing back. Also, I have a friend who told me that after she had chemotherapy treatment (breast cancer) her doctor told her to take Biotin vitamins and use Nioxin shampoo. Should I use these products to try and speed things up?
Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions!
Telogen effluvium may take from 2-6 months to reverse. Assuming that this is a drug induced TE, you should wait out the process for at least 6 months and then if you still have bald spots, you need to see a specialist. The medications used by your friend may have value. Also, the use of minoxidil 5% may help.
This patient has classic female patterned balding with hair loss behind the frontal 1/2 inch. The thinning is worse in the frontal area and is more manageable in the top and back, but still thin and see-through. I have given this patient DermMatch, which is a cosmetic powder that colors the scalp and sticks to hairs to make them thicker. The contrast between hair and scalp is lessened with this product and when combined with good styling, products like this (see also, Toppik) can work to make the transparency of the hair less so. The photos below show how big of a difference a topical camouflage can make.
The photo on the left is before, on the right is after DermMatch. Click photos to enlarge.
I wore pigtails as a young girl and braids on my hear in my late teens and early twenties. Now I am stuck with no hair in the front or one the sides.
This question came from a woman that I just met with. It is a complicated case, mostly because the missing hair covers a large area. Her donor density is slightly higher than normal for an African hairline, but there is some miniaturization in the donor area which may impact the total graft yield. Nevertheless, she is committed to having transplantation surgery, even as I explained to her that the result might be less than a full, thick hairline area. Her response to that was, “Any hairline there will be fine”.
I am a 30 year old, healthy female and I moved house in 2006 – 3 months later noticed excessive hair loss (300 per day at it’s peak!). I had also given birth 15 months previous to a healthy boy. The hair loss started Oct 2006 and by Nov 2006 I found I was pregnant again. By feb 2007 hair loss had stopped and I had some regrowth (although not as thick as it had been). I have since given birth again to a baby girl and 3 months later I’m suffering hair loss again – to the point where I’ve had to have a fringe cut into my hair to cover the thinning hair line!! I’ve been checked by a trichologist for female pattern hair loss and told I don’t have this. Would you expect my hair to return to its former luster? It’s still real shiny and healthy (the 50% I have left!!!) Thank you so much
I would suspect that you have telogen effluvium related to childbirth with your most recent newborn. This usually occurs after you give birth and you can expect hair regrowth from 3 weeks to 3 months. Stress may be contributing to the hair loss of the earlier period. If your hair does not return by the 8th month, you will need to see a hair specialist for a complete evaluation.
I just spoke to a lady who had eyelash transplants 18 months ago. She wanted to know my opinion on her complications, which include: loss of native eyelashes, failure of the transplanted eyelashes to grow, and some infection.
This is the problem I am hearing from many people who have had this procedure and therefore I urge most people to avoid doing this surgery.
Note: The photo here is likely a goal of eyelash transplant surgery, but it may not be obtainable. Photo for illustrative purposes.
Tonight I read a very interesting page on the site of the American Hair Loss Association with a list of prescription drugs that can “cause temporary hair loss, trigger the onset of male and female pattern baldness, and even cause permanent hair loss”. I began this research for my 52 year old mother, who after recently having a heart attack, began taking Lipitor, Coreg, Plavix and Altace. I love her and it breaks my heart that she is having to endure a cosmetic issue in addition to everything else. Imagine my surprise when I found that six drugs I have taken for significant periods over the last 10 years were also listed: Paxil, Zoloft, Tazorac (Vitamin A derivative), Retin-A, Synthroid and Tapazole for hyperthyroidism.
How my heart sank.
For about two years, I have been trying to cope with my rapidly thinning hair and temporal recession at age 23. And I really haven’t. If anything, my attitude has gotten worse as it has progressed. I take my Propecia religiously, and I avoid myself in the mirror. It makes me sick – but now there is something that makes me even sicker.
Previously, my abundant good sense would have told me that if my baldness were medicinally linked, pattern baldness, which is genetic, would not present itself, and all hair loss would be reversed upon cessation of the medication. I believe, given the lovely cocktail of drugs I have been absorbing since age 12, I have “triggered the onset of pattern baldness”. The slim chance of (I’m guessing) 10% that one of these drugs would induce what probably would have happened 30 years later increased to 60%. I am sort of fuming – piping hot..really, really angry about this.
Luckily, I am entering a stage in my life where I’m realizing my genetic predisposition to certain diseases. Cancer, Heart Disease, Grave’s Disease, Diabetes and Depression are all thrown in to make my life more interesting. I am trying to realize this and lead a healthy life, taking as many preventative measures as I can. While it does make me angry, the thought of one of my conditions not being caused by faulty genes, and instead by medications to treat what those faulty genes caused, rather makes me sort of hopeful. I am off the acne, depression and thyroid medications, so is there some treatment I could begin specific to my case, and possibly, many other cases? Surely my only option isn’t Propecia. Is there something else I can do to reverse the damage Vitamin A, SSRI’s, and thryroid medications caused? And what can my poor mother do?
I apologize in advance for dropping such a tangled complexity in your lap. Please help us.
Thank you
You are certainly pouring your heart out and taking too much blame for what is going on. We take medications when we are in need of them; some can cause hair loss. Both you and your mother need to see a good doctor. I wish I could offer more than just a physician recommendation, but without an examination I just don’t see this being quite that simple.
As you are on the east coast of the US, I can recommend Dr. Robert Bernstein in New York, who can develop a Master Plan for both you and your mother. The information you supplied is packed with interesting stuff and many readers may find your experience helpful. Thank you for sending this. Good luck.
Why is it that as a woman gets older, her vellus hairs begin to show more. Do they get longer, denser, or what? I notice they are still fine and white(not talking about beards or increased coarseness), but they just seem to show more on older women.
Since they are white, I know they can’t be lasered, but what about electrolysis? Could the shafts get coarser if they are electrolysized and they grow back? Are there any potential drawbacks to electrolysizing the vellus hairs on a woman’s face?
Any beard hair or increase in vellus hair thickness is the result of hormonal changes. As women get past menopause, there are greater effects of normal androgens in a woman’s body than would be the case in much younger women. We also see this in medical conditions like Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), where androgenic effects are evident.
With regard to your questions on electrolysis, when it is successful it works well. Unfortunately, a small whitish area around the skin adjacent to the hair shaft occurs with electrolysis and this could be a problem if your skin is dark. Failure rates are high with electrolysis and it takes a real expert to do this, a skill not commonly found. If there is a failure (about half fail in competent hands), the hair does not grow more coarse.
(female) I know this has been asked before regarding hair loss and gastric bypass surgery but I have not seen my specific questions answered. I had VSG surgery the end of August 07…I started losing a lot of hair in December…it is January now and even more hair is coming out then it was in December. I have even ordered some hair extensions because the loss is so great.
My questions:
1. How long can I expect this loss to continue?
2. Is there anything I can be doing to promote hair growth or to prevent any further hair from coming out?
3. I am doing everything textbook..taking all of my supplements..getting in 70-80grams of protein in daily…taking my vitamins and just recently started taking Biotin 5000mcg daily.Thanks and hoping not to go bald here :-)
You must be careful that you have a good diet. Gastric bypass produces weight loss… and weight loss with dietary changes may keep your hair down. This may be the price of the surgery. I don’t know that the hair loss will get much better quickly. Only time will tell.
Hello Dr.(40 year old African American female) I was told on the 8th of Jan 08 by a Dermatologist in a county hospital that I have scaring in the crown of my head and very few follicles left because of the way African-American women process their hair, and then as he exits the room he says, there’s nothing we can do. A more sympathetic intern stayed behind and offered to prescribe Fluocinonide Topical Solution USP,0.05% 60ml,will this have any benefit at all? and am I a candidate for anything else transplant or otherwise. P.S., know any good specialist in Houston, TX.?
Fluocinonide is a potent steroid medication and I do not like to second guess another doctor’s recommendation. You should probe your doctor’s opinion on just what benefit he expects to see and over what period of time. My personal feeling is that it is sometimes more difficult for a doctor to do nothing — and sometimes when a doctor feels compelled to do something, medications prescribed may have little or no value. I do not have recommendations in TX at this time.
(female) I underwent a serious depression 7 months ago due to an uncomfortable house and sharing with another family. I didn’t know that iam sufering from depression really. towards the end my hands started shaking, and i felt a certain outward force is dragging me. i went and took some treatment in i. I am taking anatax, nexito and valence tablets. but i have tremendous hair fall. can i be cured. iam worried about it.
Hair loss in women is a complex problem. Your stress may be as much of a factor as medications that you may be taking. Please see an expert in-person in the hair field for analysis of this problem.
(female) Recently I underwent a series of MRI’s 6 in total, for diagnosis of MS, which i didn’t have. The thing is my hair is falling out now, to the point I can comb my hair and bunches of it will come out, my hair was always thin on top, so to have all this hair fall out, and on the sides and back is really depressing, I know that my age (62) may have something to do with the thinning hair line, but this extreme hair loss started just after the MRI’s. Do you have any idea what it may be?
thank you
I doubt magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) would cause the hair loss. If I was a betting man, I would think more along the lines of the multiple sclerosis or stress as the cause of your hair loss… or even some of the medications that you use to treat the MS. You should ask these questions to your treating doctor. As always, do not stop or start any medications without first consulting your doctor.