Did My Tapeworm Cause More Hair Loss from Malnutrition?

Hi Doc,

I am currently in Brazil although I live in the United States. I already have male pattern baldness, but in the past few months things got much worse and I was very surprised.

Anyway, last week I found out I had a tapeworm. I got it removed, but I was thinking that the malnutrition of the tapeworm could have affected my hair loss. If it did, do you think the extra hair loss I had would be temporary? Or is that permanent because I already have male pattern baldness?

Thanks for any help you can give

In general, tapeworms or similar parasitic infections do not cause hair loss unless you had significant weight loss and malnutrition. I would think if there was enough stress put on to your body from the tapeworm, your male pattern genetic hair loss could be accelerated.

Unfortunately once your hair is lost, it is most likely not going to regrow on its own even with the malnutrition corrected. I guess it depends on where you’re losing the hair and whether you would’ve lost hair in the genetic progression. If you lost hair on the sides of your head due to stress, for example, that could regrow.