Bad Scalp Problem

I am 27 years old, and have a scalp problem. A few years back, I used Rogaine for small amounts of hair loss (it was stress I think) and a bad reaction to it. It seemed to make my hair fall out (large amounts) and my scalp hurt, the hairs themselves were bronze-colored and brittle. I went to a dermatologist, who said he had not seen anything like it, but knew of the condition he called "scalp inflammation" He told me it would "cycle" falling out and growing back until it completely healed. Well, it has somewhat, but there are still large noticeable spots that continue to fall out and grow back with the hairs still coarse and fairly brittle(though not so bronze-colored) causing me to wear a hat all the time. I have tried t-gel, but I'm not sure it did much, and I was considering "Folligen." Is there anyway to cure this aside from waiting? Do you know of any products that could solve my issue?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

No.  Rogaine can't cause permanent scalp damage, and neither can anything else.  What you need is proper diagnosis of your condition.  For instance, you may have alopecia areata, which can cause bald spots.  In that case the Rogaine had nothing to do wit it.  But any treatment has to be keyed to your diagnosis, which comes first.  Meantime, I suggest you avoid using any hair-growth products, none of which have any scientific basis (other than Rogaine, which isn't very effective.)

Good luck.

Dr. Rockoff

[neu]

A related discussion, Scalp hurts was started.