Is Rubbing My Beard Causing Traction Alopecia?

Is my beard suffering from traction alopecia?

Hello Dr,

For as long as I could grow a beard – about 10 years now – I’ve been something of a beard scratcher or more appropriately a massager. You know the type, a man in contemplation, rubbing his beard growth – an image you’ve surely seen a thousand times. I keep the beard at various lengths – short and stubble like or a medium length groomed style. To achieve various looks I use a remington beard clipper. Now recently I’ve noticed that a few areas of the beard look less dense, particularly the left chin to bottom lip portion. Don’t get me wrong, there is still hair in those areas it just seems a little thinned out as if somehow it lost some density but kept its overall growth pattern. This left me confused!

I wondered if my beard massaging or perhaps even clipper could have caused this? Almost all the men I know use a clipper on their faces and most can be seen stroking their beards from time to time. I mean the hair follicles are so thick in the beard area I imagine even tweezing them out would be difficult! Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

I doubt that “massaging” your beard would cause traction alopecia. You would have to be constantly pulling on the beard to the point that it sags your face. As people age their body hairs change in general.

I do not know the cause of your beard thinning. As much as we treat scalp hair loss, we rarely treat beard hair loss. I do at times see men with spotty beard hair loss and that often comes from alopecia areata. You may want to see if there are any other areas on your body and scalp where you notice this type of thinning.