does this sound like diffuse AA? home remedies?

Hey all. I'm a 33-year-old male. Last year was extremely stressful. I was depressed, hyperventilating at night, lots of crying. At the same time a very high platelet count in a blood test got me a call from the doctor, who put my immune system on watch. Around this time I noticed I was losing more hair than usual in the shower. The hair on my sides also rapidly turned white.

A year later my immune system is back to normal and my emotional health is a lot better than it was last year. Several months ago I felt a range of very small hairs - a few millimeters - all over my head, which I assume are those lost hairs growing back. Problem is, they've been stuck at this stage since they came back. I still have plenty of hair, but for what it's worth, I'd like to get these guys back in the game as well.

Questions: does this sound like diffuse alopecia areata? If not, what does it sound like? Can you recommend any home treatments? I don't want to resort to steroid injections and medicine unless there's absolutely no other options.

Thanks so much in advance.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
It is normal to find short miniature hair in telogen effluvium. Depending on the duration of hair loss, close examination of the scalp may reveal a higher than expected number of short new hairs growing. This is because the hair enter the telogen phase. 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. When they start growing they do it together and so miniature hair may be present.

You need to pay attention to your diet. Your hair needs vitamins and minerals to grow that it can only get from the bloodstream. So if you want to speed up your hair growth and thickness you should limit the intake of fat and salts. Selenium, zinc and magnesium are some of the minerals that your hair needs and also amino acids and vitamin E will help in growing hairs. You can regularly massage scalp with oil, use protein conditioner to avoid loss and help growing, prevent exposure in hot sun etc.

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.