Totally off topic - losing eyebrow hair

[Eyesnlegs]

About 18 months ago I started losing hair from my eyebrows, now in comparison to MS this is minor but you know a girl still likes to look her best!

I told my GP about it and she checked my thyroid and said it was fine, within a couple of months I was in a major MS relapse which led to my dx and the eyebrows faded to insignificance - excuse the pun - literally.

I began to depend on my eyebrow pencil every single day, without it I now have half an eyebrow on the one side, the outer half has gone and virtually none on the other side. Eyebrows define our face and lack of them can look quite strange.

I haven't asked my GP again in spite of this getting worse as the MS dx and all the subsequent concerns took over but I am thinking of mentioning it again. In the meantime - has anyone else had anything like this?

Thanks guys
Pat

[Jenne1]

To get long and healthy eyebrows.everynight put little on eyelashes t like mascara and in eye brows.vasiline or castor oil sleep allnight than wash off real good next morning.wow what a difference!my freind had cancer did that to her eyebrows came back.make sure the castor oil is cold pressed.

[ingeb]

I have a similar condition and I´m starting to wonder if the eyebrow loss have something to do with the panic attacks/ adrenalin rushes. The reason I belive so is because I took beta blockers some time ago to reduce my panic/ heart rush, that helped those symptoms a lot - and my eyebrows were still shredding, but very little. When I stopped the beta blockers, my adrenaline rushes/ panic attacks are heavier - and I rapidly lost more hair. Do you have panic/ stress/ adrenalin issues? I think this might be a key.

[Eyesnlegs]

I would love to spend more time around here and rest assured there are many people still here who have become lifelong friends xx

[kwarendorf]

Welcome back to the land of the unlurking :-)

[Eyesnlegs]

Hi RN_RN and kwarendorf,

You are quite right, I don't post that much anymore, but I am around and do get alerts and updates. Life has been tumultuous in recent years and as you can imagine has moved on. But I am never far away from this amazing community who helped me through some very difficult times towards dx.

Thanks for the additional info on the eyebrows I never found out why and have no eyebrows at all now, although my eyelashes are still fine. My medics answer has always been 'well at least you still gave a full head of hair!'

I don't know what Latisse is and will be investigating - so thank you.

Pat x

[kwarendorf]

Hi RS- Welcome to our group.

This thread is a little on the old side. It was started in 2009. THe original poster, Eyesnlegs doesn't visit anymore. Ive been around for over 2 years and have not seen her post.

Why not Post A Question and introduce yourself? We're a pretty friendly lot :-)

Kyle

[RS_RN]

As a specialty nurse, I have worked with many MS patients and some of them DO lose their eyebrows & eye lashes. Some of my female patients have started using Latisse on their lashes and brows. The brows are definitely off-label treatment, but seems to work. They tell me it takes about 6 weeks for the eyelashes and about 2 1/2 months for the eyebrows to re-generate. Ask your eye specialist or MS doctor.

Good Luck!
RS_RN

[Guitar_grrrl]

Hi, Pat,

I'm not loosing my brows, but they're thinning and much greyer than the rest of me.  I dealt with it by wearing a thick fringe.  Nobody can see the grey brows, or the deep frown lines.  I'm not angry often, I'm just deep in thought a good deal of the time!

All kidding aside, I've known a couple of folks with unexplained alopecia.  They have no clue as to how it all came about..

Cheers,
Guitar_grrrl

[MsWobbles]

Hey, Pat,

Having been a redhead all my life and still am (at age 61 no less) I have always had very light eyebrows, seemingly nonexistant.  However, now I actually do not have any but a few sparse hairs for eyebrows.  Thyroid normal by labs (but many feel the TSH does not tell the whole story - as in my basal temperature is around 94°).

I'll tell you my plan:  When I'm done with my MRI inquiries this year, I am going for permanent eyebrows - which costs from $200 to $400 depending on who does it.  Why not?  I have had to use eyebrow pencil all my life and I'm tired of it - especially since my favorite supplier of such mechanical eyebrow pencils has moved to an inconvenient location and if I order them by mail they arrive with the color stick all broken up.

Then there's the experience which, with my oily skin, I have had often - that of looking in the mirror later in the day and seeing that only half (or less) of an eyebrow is still visible.  Looks truly bizarre!

The good news is that, according to several radiologists I have consulted, MRI is still possible even with permanent makeup - but it is advisable to wait a few weeks or months after the makeup procedure before having the MRI because of the likely metallic component of the permanent eyebrows.  Also, it is advisable to be very careful about the artistic skills of  whoever you choose to apply the makeup as well as their aseptic technique, such as using disposable one-use needles etc. as it is possible to contract hepatitis from permanent makeup application just as in any other form of tatooing.

WAF

[Eyesnlegs]

Thanks for trying with this one I am a a total loss as to how to tackle it to find answers. The issue is that they did not thin slowly as you would expect if it was age related but literally fell out in chunks -I would actually wake up with bald patches until they have virtually disappeared. It also started with the outer section first which is why we suspected thyroid.

Maybe I should try posting on dermatology and see what happens?

Thanks as always for your valued thoughts.

Pat x

[doublevision1]

I can't think of anything to add to what the others have suggested regarding the possible cause of your thinning eyebrows.

In terms of a cosmetic solution, perhaps you might inquire about whether Latisse could help?  This is a prescription med approved to stimulate growth of eyelashes.  I've read that it's not FDA approved for brows though it wouldn't harm them, but also apparently brow hair is more difficult to re-grow than lashes.  Latisse is a lower dose of a glaucoma medication.  It was discovered to enhance lash growth when a bunch of glaucoma pts ended up with gorgeous eyelashes after being on the med for a while.

Another thought is topical Rogaine?  No idea whether this works on brows but couldn't hurt to ask.  If your GP is out of their element and thyroid seems not to be the culprit, perhaps try a dermatologist?

[Wobbly]

true... I didn't think of it that way... hahaha

havent to ask my Dr now...

take care
wobbly

[Eyesnlegs]

If it was an age thing would it happen to everyone?

Pat

[Wobbly]

I was told it come with age... mine and my twin have both thinning eyebrows, we had thick eye brows when we were younger, say 10 years ago...now in our 50s...we use a pencil...never had to before??

I wonder if it's autoimmune...she has RA?

take care
wobbly
dx

[Eyesnlegs]

Thanks both for taking the time to reply.

I know it does seem like a small thing but I have NEVER been eyebrow challenged. I try to apply make up every day to make me feel even just a littel normal and as I work I don't want people to think I have just let go. Also with no eyebrows you can look weird.

I may look like a blonde now but that is because my daughter is a skilled hairdresser.and covers the grey beutifully.  I have always had dark brown hair and enough eyebrows that I had to pluck at least once a week. Suddenly about 18 months ago they started to just fall out. No other hair loss at all just eyebrows.

I was told by a firiend it might be thyroid so my doctor checked and said it was normal. Remember we live in the UK - when I asked her the result level she just said - it's in the normal range no need to worry - and that was that.

I cannot find anything else about it and at the time I started goingthrough another round of MS testing so left it. But I would liek to get to teh botton of it so thanks Ess.

Heather I cannot use the mascara brush there is literally no hair were my eyebrows were jexcept on the left a few hairs and on the right about half an eyebrow - still in the dark brown colour I always was. I would laugh if I wasn't so embaressed.

Thanks again I'll try the google thing again but I have researched for ages and found very little except thyroid when it is eyebrows only..

Pat x

[essdipity]

Try Googling 'eyebrows autoimmune.' You'll get lots of matches. Some no doubt are from hucksters of one sort or other, but some are from legit dermatologists.

Apparently the most common cause of thinning eyebrows is alopecia, an autoimmune disorder, but lots of autoimmune problems could be involved. Losing the outer third of the eyebrows is often seen in thryroid conditions, also in Pernicious Anemia. I am 'eyebrow challenged' myself, and never pluck or I'd have nothing left. I look much better with careful use of eyebrow pencil. Another benefit is that I fill in only from the top, so I get a bit of 'brow lift' effect which is more youthful for me without being over the top.

I don't blame you at all for wanting to do something about this problem. It may be small in the scheme of things but it does affect the quality of your life as you battle a new and big diagnosis. If I were you I'd see a dermatologist and/or an endocrinologist and get to the bottom of this. It can't hurt.

ess

[Heather3418]

If it IS thyroid, wouldn't it affect more hair than just the eyebrows?  Just a thought!

I have never had much in the way of visible eyebrows, since I am a red-head.  I have never found an eyebrow pencil that really matched my skin color and hair color.  Anything else, looks very fake on me.  I remember as a teenager, that girls would use their mascara to stroke across their eyebrows.  The girls with dark hair anyway.  It really worked well, because it is a true brush applying it.  It really did look more natural than the eye-brow pencil.

Just a thought....

Big Hugs,
Heather

[Eyesnlegs]

bump

I know this is off topic but I am just hoping one of you may have an idea? I cannot find anything on it except thyroid

[shoshin]

Yeah, it is unsettling to have something like that happening with no explanation

I have no idea if this applies to your situation, but a while ago I came across this article that argues that the standard TSH reference range (at least in the U.S.) is too wide and undercalls thyroid disease:

http://thyroid.about.com/od/gettestedanddiagnosed/a/normaltshlevel.htm

FWIW.

I sometimes worry about my thyroid, too, as I often seem to get unreasonably cold for no reason. I hope you get some answers from somebody.

sho

[Eyesnlegs]

Thanks for the answering I have considered this believe me - my main though concern is that the only reason I can find is thyroid and yet my test was normal - this causes me to think that these tests may vary.

If the only problem is vanity then I can cope if it is health then it needs addressing.

Thanks
Pat

Pat

[shoshin]

I have no idea why you're losing your eyebrows, but some people in Japan, who often have thin eyebrows, get eyebrows tattooed on so maybe if this continues and you get tired of the eyebrow pencil, you could try that approach.

Sorry, I can't be more helpful.

sho

[Eyesnlegs]

The rest of my hair is as thick as it has always been. My daughter is a hairdresser and has commented on how healthy it looks.

Calcium levels fine, my bone scan was above average for my age!!

Pat

[PastorDan]

Is the rest of your hair holding its' own?  My late wife began losing hair when she was on certain diets, but something she took corrected that.... Maybe calcium, maybe something else.  She had a better memory than her hubby. :(