Please Help! Thinner Hair and slight itch on one side of head

[jocupcake]

I am trying to figure out if something is wrong with my hair... I am a 22 year old female and I have always had nice thick hair, but in Jan 2008 I noticed that the right side of my hair felt thinner than the left. Not so thin that it was noticeable (I asked my friend in a panic and she thought I was nuts), and definitely no bald spots, but when I parted my hair in half and held each side in each hand, the right side felt a little less thick than the left. Also, when I ran my fingers through each side, the left felt a bit thicker than the right.

At that time, I realized that more of my hair had been falling out than usual since around December. For example, I loved it when my boyfriend would run his hands through my hair. Before, not much of my hair would come out, even when he pulled on tangles. Now maybe 10-20 or so hairs would come loose (I am not sure about the exact number... I wasn't clumps or anything... just alot more than I was used to). I wasn't sure if my hair was falling out from all over my head in December, but when I noticed the right side was thinner in January, I also noticed that more hair seemed to fall out from the right side than from the left when I ran my hands through it. I don't think I ever lost more than 100 hairs in a day. I counted a few times after showers and I would get 40-50. I didn't keep very good count of hair that fell later in the day... maybe 20 more. My scalp also seemed a little itchier than before. There was never any redness, severe dandruff, or anything else unusual, except for that after I noticed the right/left thickness differences the right side seemed to be the only place itching, with the left side itching only a normal amount. I also started to notice that sometimes a spot on my head (usually on the right) would feel a little tender when I touched it, but that feeling would go away sometimes within an hour but always by the end of the day.

Just so you get a complete picture, I should tell you a little bit about my history. I had an eating disorder starting December 2005. I am 5'7'' and I started dieting healthily in Sept 05 from a weight of 170, but I started taking my diet to the extreme went from 140lbs to my lowest weight of 107lbs from December 05 - mid August 2006. So for about 8 months, I ate very little, maybe about 500 -800 cals a day except for a few weekend occasions when I would let myself eat more and a few binges. I did notice more hair falling out than usual during this time and a bit after, but at this point, I didn't notice more falling from one side than the other and it never got thin to the point that I had bald spots (as I said, I had really thick hair to start). Unfortunately, I was so wrapped up in being skinny at that point that I didn't really care about more hair coming out. But from mid August 06 I got it together and started trying to get better. I ate more (actually a little too much) and I gained weight pretty steadily from that point on. I am now 155lbs. From December 2005-about May 2008 I suffered from moderate depression but I have been fine ever since. In the very beginning of Sept. 2007 I had an early surgical abortion (I was 6 weeks along).

During my recovery from my eating disorder there were times when I slipped up. I ate <500cals/day for a period of a few days about 3 times between Sept 2006 and Nov 2007. Mid-Nov. 2007 I ate 500-1000 cals/day for about a week and a half and I did the same thing again for 2 weeks in Dec. 2007. All of these times, I went back to eating normally immediately after.

Since January 2008, I have been eating healthily and NEVER eaten lass than 1200 calories/day. I do want to lose a little weight (aiming for a healthy 130lbs), but I am taking it slow (and generally not really sticking to my diet plans) and usually end up eating more like 1800 calories/day. I am kind of nervous about dieting since I want to make sure I don't damage my hair. I try to make sure I am getting enough protein by at the very least, ALWAYS eating meat at dinner. Since Jan. I also started detangling my hair very carefully in the shower and occasionally, out. I completely stopped wearing hair claw clips and combs and I try not to put my hair in a ponytail unless I am exercising, although I don't think I ever had really tight hairstyles to begin with. I never blow dry my hair (I have done it about 10 times in my whole life). I never really straightened my hair much, but now if I do it I am very very careful and have only done it 3 times since April 2008.  Istarted taking One a Day Womens in June and at that point I started sleeping on my left side or with my head turned to the left (although sometimes I wake up and am on my right side).

It is now October and although I feel like I am not losing as much hair as before (not waking up with 5-6 strands always on the pillow like in Jan... now there aren't any), I still feel like I am losing more from the right than the left when I detangle in the shower and the right is still thinner. My head doesn't itch as much on the right, just very occasionally, usually happening when I start thinking about my hair or right after a shower. I happened to notice in August that some of the hair on the right side (not at the scalp, but about halfway down) feels rougher and is not as shiny as the left. My hair is wavy and falls a few inches past my shoulders. I thought that by now, I wouldn't be noticing more hair falling from the right than the left so I am a little worried that something is wrong.  

So hopefully all of that info is helpful. I thought maybe this could have started because I didn't eat well those 2 times in Nov and Dec of 2007, and, having deprived my body of nutrition before, if my body was just more sensitive. I also thought it could have happened due to the abortion in Sept 08. Is there anything else this could be? Is it abnormal for my hair to be taking this long to go back to normal? It has been 9 months now, and even though my hair seems a little better, from what I read online, I was under the impression that if it was caused by nutritional deficiency or an abortion the hair would stop falling abnormally in a couple months. I am totally confused as to why I only seem to be losing more hair than normal from the right side and why the right side itched a little sometimes. Could hair loss/itch be caused by sleeping on one side of the head too much? Recently, it has seemed that the itch thing all in my head since now it only ever happens when I think about my hair.

Sorry for such a long post... I was trying to be as thorough as possible!

[BhumikaMD]

Hi,

A number of things can cause excessive hair loss. For example, about 3 or 4 months after an illness or a major surgery, you may suddenly lose a large amount of hair. This hair loss is related to the stress of the illness and is temporary.

Hormonal problems may cause hair loss. If your thyroid gland is overactive or underactive, your hair may fall out. This hair loss usually can be helped by treatment thyroid disease. Hair loss may occur if male or female hormones, known as androgens and estrogens, are out of balance. Correcting the hormone imbalance may stop your hair loss.

Many women notice hair loss about 3 months after they've had a baby. This loss is also related to hormones. During pregnancy, high levels of certain hormones cause the body to keep hair that would normally fall out. When the hormones return to pre-pregnancy levels, that hair falls out and the normal cycle of growth and loss starts again.

Some medicines can cause hair loss. This type of hair loss improves when you stop taking the medicine. Medicines that can cause hair loss include blood thinners (also called anticoagulants), medicines used for gout, medicines used in chemotherapy to treat cancer, vitamin A (if too much is taken), birth control pills and antidepressants.

Certain infections can cause hair loss. Fungal infections of the scalp can cause hair loss in children. The infection is easily treated with antifungal medicines.

Finally, hair loss may occur as part of an underlying disease, such as lupus or diabetes. Since hair loss may be an early sign of a disease, it is important to find the cause so that it can be treated.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hair-loss/DS00278

It would be advisable to consult a skin specialist for this and then decide the cause and further plan of management.

Let us know if you need any other information.

Regards.

[jocupcake]

Thanks for the info. I actually did alot of research so I was pretty familiar with all the causes you listed. I was hoping that you might have some feeling about what this could be and could offer an explanation as to why it's only affecting one side of my head. Can an infection be on only one side for this long? I figured that if it was an infection, it would be all over my scalp. Also, after sickness or abortion do you know how long it takes for hair to start growing again? And how long does it take for hair thickness to return to  normal? I am going to make an appt with a dermatologist ASAP, but I am trying not to stress out in the meantime.

Thanks!

[jocupcake]

Also, my scalp looks completely normal. No bumps or redness at all and it doesn't feel more or less oily than usual. Are there any types of scalp infections that wouldn't cause any observable symptom other than slight itching?