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I am a 42 y/o black female. My hair started thinning around the hairline about 2 years ago. At first I thought it was some of the chemicals being used by my hair stylist. I have changed to another stylist, but the problem persits. I recently went to a dermatologist who started me on Rogaine. However, the site for Rogaine states that it is for hairloss in the top of the scalp. Is there any treatments that will help thinning hair around the hairline? I understand that this is uncommon for women? Please help, this has effected me emotionally.

There are a few important issues to address in your question. The first thing to note is that all salons use similar chemicals so you might want to stop chemically treating your hair altogether for several months to see if it recovers. The second issue is whether or not you have a tight braid/ponytail type of hairstyle or have had recent facial plastic surgery (like a brow or a face lift) since both of these can result in the hairline thinning you describe. You are correct in that women rarely lose their hairline with female pattern/genetic hair loss, but it can happen and that is why you should be examined by a doctor who specializes in hair with an indepth assessment for miniaturization.

Finally, Rogaine has been studied best at the top of the scalp, but I have seen some hairline results in women so it is worth a try. Unfortunately for women, there are no medical alternatives for thinning hair other than Rogaine. It is also noteworthy that hairloss can profoundly affect a woman’s emotional health, much more so than with men although men suffer hairloss more commonly. I would urge you not only to proactively address the hair loss, but to take steps to treat the emotional impact it is having on you as well.

My 17 years old daughter was diagnosed with inactive tuberculosis about 8 months ago and has been taking INH. However, about 18 months ago she started losing her hair. Could this be caused by the tuberculosis alone?

I have written on this medication with tuberculosis before (see Tuberculosis Drug and Hair Loss). The disease itself is a wasting disorder which is known to produce hair loss, as with other wasting disorders. The same recommendations I made before apply: good diet and appropriate vitamin therapy. A full work-up for female hair loss is in order here as there are many diseases that cause hair loss in women (see Female Hair Loss category). Read these pages carefully and seek out a good doctor to follow through with a thorough examination of your daughter. Also, you might want her to see a hair specialist who will study her for female genetic hair loss and assess the miniaturization of her hair to see if the pattern is typical of female genetic hair loss.

I have been losing my hair for years. I’ve been a sucker for many high priced hoaxes and am now to the point where the comb over is barely hiding it anymore. I’ve lost so much of my hair on the front/top and am ashamed to even look in the mirror, I feel like crying each morning when I style my hair. When people look at me I can’t help but feel like they are laughing, I’m only 30. I had asked my doctor awhile back (when I was about 22-23), but his advice to me was to learn to live with it, there’s nothing that can be done for hair loss. Please, is there any product out there that you would recommend for me to research, (I know in the medical world you can’t recommend a product for me to try), so all I’m asking for is a point in the right direction. Every time I try I just feel more defeated, there are so many products out there, I know most of them are little more than snake oil. Please please help–I don’t know where else to turn for an unbiased recommendation.

I hesitated to write an answer to you because I did not want to contribute to the many failures of treatments you have experienced. It sounds like you are accepting your balding without having a medical work-up. Please review the many pages of answers in the Female Hair Loss category, and then get a good doctor who will work as a professional in helping you to surround the diagnosis and treatment for your hair loss. Good luck.

I had really thick hair up until I was 16 years old. Since then it is about 1/3 the thickness. I have tried vitamins and have tried to eat alot of protein etc to help. I am 52 (female) and after all these years I cannot help but notice a pattern. During the winter months after December my hair will have regrowth with new hair and actually thicken to the point that my scalp is not visible. Is is possible that cold and sinus medicines such as sudafed, cough syrups, and antibiotics [non penicilin] have ingredients that would contribute to hair growth? As soon as the weather heats up in the summer my hair starts falling out again by the brush full. What do you think? Thank you for your time and consideration.

What you say is logical, it is just not what we normally see in humans. Why humans have developed asynchronous hair growth, why we do not grow and shed hair all at once and the evolution of this is not known. What you are suggesting is that in you there is some seasonal variation in your hair density and that shedding may occur as the seasons get warmer, I do not doubt your observations, but I do not have a basis for understanding it. I am convinced that in the summer when we sweat a great deal and get our hair wet from sweat, we may actually produce more friction when we brush or comb the hair. That might account for the hair that comes out when you brush your hair in the summer. Also, some people wash their hair more frequently in the summer when they are out and about because they get it ‘dirty’ more easily. That might explain what you are observing. Clearly, there is a suggestion that there is some middle ground in your history and that some climate problems do occur in the summer in your situation. Do you live in a warm/hot climate?

I am a 39 year old female experiencing hairloss all over, with more concentration in the frontal area. I became infertile with low estrogen in my early 30s, went on testosterone cream supplement for 8-9 months after that, but primarily suspect that my hair loss is due to the L-tryptophan I’ve been taking for the last 2 years for my mood, which has worked wonderfully for me as an antidepressant (from 1000 mg to 2500 mg.).

If I get off the Tryptophan will my hair grow back? Otherwise, I may need a referral for a doctor in the San Jose or San Francisco Bay Area, and to find another anti-depressant…that doesn’t cause hair loss???

Thank you

There are some suggestions that tryptophan can cause hair loss and yet other suggestions that it does not effect hair loss. As a metabolic intermediate in the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin (5-HTP), some believe that in selective sensitive patients it may cause hair loss in its derivative form. Chemotoxicity is not my specialty and this is frankly beyond my skills and knowledge. Your conclusions on finding a doctor that can manage your anti-depressant medications is appropriate, but I do not have a referral for you. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.

i am a 23 year old woman, who has always had VERY thick curly hair. I have noticed that my hair is much thinner and requires many more wraps of the hair tie to put it up in a pony tail. I am very upset and wondered if you had any clue what is going on. I do not have a receeding hair line or anything. how stressed out does a person have to be inorder to affect their hair? thanks

The internet is no place to get a good examination of your head, scalp, and hair. A good dermatologist should be a starting point. Some people get hair changes with age that is not necessarily diseased hair, and others get hair thinning and loss from medical problems (see Female Hair Loss on this site to see other posts that reference the many medical conditions that can cause hair loss). You need a good doctor to make an assessment of you and your problem. If you have genetic female hair loss, then hair loss can be a problem anytime you experience stress.

I keep reading that stress is not a factor in Alopecia Universalis but my daughter who just turned 20 began losing her hair a year ago, a few months after her sister died in a car accident and now is totally bald, lost most body hair and eyebrows. We all know it is from the shock and trauma…why doesn’t the medical profession accept that and what is the prognoisis now that it has happened?

I can not comment on what you were told, but I know that such genetic conditions, which may occur normally in those with the impacted genes, can be accelerated by stress. You are correct, in a sense, that stress can precipitate what genetically would have come with time.

hi dr. rassman! i came across your website and i found it to be very helpful. im a 14 year old girl and about a month ago i was made aware of a bald patch at the crown of my head about the size of a 10p.a few days ago,i noticed that it had grown to about 2inches by half an inch. this is the only patch that i am aware of. im only 14 and i am sooo soo depressed about it and am constantly crying about my hairloss. ive been to see several doctors and i know there is no cure accounted for. today i went to a chinese health practice and went for a consultation with a chinese doctor, i was asked many questions about my diet and health and then acupuncture was suggested to me. i was very shocked and scared but went ahead with the acupuncture session there and then. and i was given a selection of herbal remedies to help with the alopecia also. what i would like to know is, how effective is acupuncture for the treatment of alopecia as i am extremely confused and scared as whether or not go ahead with regular acupunture. i am absolutely terrified of needles and i know i will be crying the whole way through, but if there is that possibility of my hair growing back again, i would definitly go ahead with the treatment. please please give me any advice you can im very scared that i will lose more hair and im confused as to what to do about it! please help im desperate

Acupunture should not help hair loss. Patches of hair loss are often caused by alopecia areata and this should be one of the diagnoses to consider. It sounds like you need a competent medical doctor to examine your case. It is impossible for me to make the diagnosis without seeing you, but if you send me digital photos to the address on the Contact page, I might be able to make a suggestion in the differential diagnosis.

Hello,
I got alopecia and I am 4 months pregnant. I have started using fluort lotion as it helped me 5 years back, but I worry if it will have side effects because I am pregnant now. Will it effect my baby’s growth? I am very worried. Please help me out.

I would be hesitent to use things that can be absorbed into your body (transepidermal absorption) as they may harm your baby. Hair loss in pregnancy is not uncommon, most of the time it will reverse after the baby is born (give it up to a year post partum). On occasion, pregnancy may precipitate the onset of female genetic balding, but until a year has passed after the baby is born, do not focus too much on that possibility. Good nutrition is critical both to the baby’s welfare and health, as well as your hair health.

Female - In 1986 I was on a high dose of prednisone for sarcoidosis.The disease affected my eyes and my lungs.Within 3 weeks of taking the medication, my hair was thinning. I ended up being on the drug for a year. Needless to say all my hair fell out. Even after being off the drug, my hair never grew back. To this day I am still bald. I do believe that the sarcoidosis was started from fumes. I worked with a very strong glue and liquid rubber at work. Some of my co-workers were having nose bleeds also .I find the whole ordeal very upsetting. But I didn’t know how to prove the the fumes were the cause of my problem. Being on prednisone has been a life time nightmare for me. I kept the hair loss a secret for 14 years.I wore wigs or glued on weaves. I finally decided to tell my family in 2000. This situation has caused me much grief. I can’t date because I’m afraid that the person will reject me because of no hair. Thank for reading this.

Your hair loss maybe due to both Sarcoidosis and steroid. Sarcoidosis involves inflammation that produces tiny lumps of cells in various organs in your body. The lumps are called granulomas because they look like grains of sugar or sand. Sarcoidosis can occur in almost any part of your body, although it usually affects some organs more than others. Thus, in theory, Sarcoidosis could cause hair loss. I am not certain about fumes causing sarcoidosis, but that is clearly a distinct possibility and more research would be a good idea (not something that I can do through the site). You may want to see a dermatologist and ask for a referral to a toxicologist for better evaluation of your hair loss and possibly biopsy the scalp to rule out inflammation and disease that may cause your hair loss. Good luck and please let me know the outcome from the referral sources I discussed here.