hair loss

My wife Sarah for the past couple of months has been losing her hair at an alarming rate.  It is to the point now where you can easliy see her scalp.  It just falls out in clumps.  A couple of spots are really noticable.  She has been to the doctors a few times for it.  They have tested her Thyroid twice now and has came back negative each time.  She has also had a lot of blood work done and everything is negative.  Is there anything you would suggest that she use on her head or that he doctor can test for ?  She gets upset almost everyday about this and its tough to watch.  Please help us!!!


Thank you!!!
Andy

[Angebelle]

Did the blood work also test for iron deficiency or other endocrine disorders? If not, have a retest, because treating these conditions often treats the shedding. Has she experienced illness, physical or emotional trauma?  The stress the body experiences from these can also cause hair loss.  Otherwise, if it turns out to be a chronic condition, the most accessible OTC is minoxidil (found in Rogaine).

Also, if she doesn't like the treatment or suggested tests by her regular doctor, check out ishrs dot org for a referral to a dermatologist in your area specializing in alopecia.  Best of luck to your wife!

[meniere135]

Does you wife use birth control or did she just stop using it?  Another cause to consider is autoimmune hairloss....is there any psoriasis or crohn's or vitiligo or anyone with hairloss in the family?  As you can see from these posts, the causes of hairloss are many:  hormones (incl. thyroid), medications, birth control, stress, iron deficiency, genetics, autoimmune, etc.  First you'll have to find out the cause (not always easy), and in many cases, it will regrow eventually.

You sound like a nice guy.  Do your best to reassure her that you love her no matter what.
And it definitely is hard to see hair fall out, especially so quickly.  I have three kids with alopecia and my oldest daughter is about where your wife is in hairloss (she's 19).  I also hate watching it happen....you never realize how much hair effects a person's appearance until is falls out.  In my kids case, it's genetic diffuse alopecia areata, though one of my kids has a mixture of alopecia areata (patchy hairloss) and diffuse (thinning all over).  If your wife's hairloss does turn out to be autoimmune, the good news is that it tends to regrow if you start with it in your 20's.  It's less likely to grow back (if autoimmune) when you start as a child.  So tell her to hang in there.  Take note of all her symptoms - any redness, flaking, itching, pain on the scalp, are there round, bald patches or just diffuse thinning,  If she stopped birth control, it should grow back eventually.  If it's medications causing the problem, when the med is discontinued it should grow back.  If it's hormonal, adjusting hormones should fix the problem.  For iron deficiency, they need to check ferritin levels (stored iron) and it should be at least 50 to stop hairloss and I read up to 70 to regrow hair.  Is she taking vitamins - you have to be careful with those also.  Hope these posts help you.  It takes a little while to find the cause, so I'm sure there will be a good amount of crying and panic in the meantime.  If you have any more questions,  leave another post.  

Good luck!

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
If the hair loss is in patches can be due to fungal infection and if the hair loss is diffuse then it can be due to alopecia aereta or telogen effluvium. See the growth cycle of hair is in two phases, anagen or grwith phase and telogen or resting phase. During telogen, the resting hair remains in the follicle until it is pushed out by growth of a new anagen hair. In telogen effluvium, a large number of hair enter telogen at one time.

Please discuss these possibilities with your wife’s trichologist (hair expert) so that the diagnosis can be confirmed.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.