blood work

[Tallstark]

Hi all, I have seen in several different posts about male pattern baldness versus overall shedding (what is Telogen Effluvium anyways?) that people have recommended getting a blood test; and on another site I saw getting a hair analysis.

Does anyone have any feedback on what to ask for in these tests? Do you get them ordered from a dermatologist or your general practitioner and ask them to look for blank blank? I am interested in doing this if nothing else to understand what is going on with my body.

Thanks for any feedback, and would love to hear a success story if anyone has one where they found something on a test and did something about it and it worked?

 

[Chodo]

Hey man. I'm actually going in on tuesday to have a complete physical and bloodwork. I've been losing a lot of hair recently too. I made sure to ask them to test for diabetes and hyperthyroidism at the very least. I looked around and found those 2 things could possible contribute to hair loss. Plus diabetes runs in my family. If anyone knows anything else to ask for I'd love to hear it too!

 

[vogs]

Blood work i not meant to determine if you have male pattern baldness, it's more intended to rule out other conditions such has Thyroid related diseases.

 

[Stu85]

Well make sure to ask for at least DHT, Testosterone and Estrogen levels - but I know it's not that simple. I remember someone posting the results of their blood work and there was two testosterone measures, two estrogen measures and there may also have been two DHT measures along with some other stuff....can anyone else help?

 

[The Gardener]

It would be hard to deduce much from the sex hormone levels, unless something were seriously out of whack. But, it does narrow down hairloss causes by eliminating some other potential causes.

 

[ginner]

It's probably worth having iron studies done as well. If you don't have any other symptoms of iron deficiency then it's probably not an issue. But it is a possible cause of hair loss so it's worth doing if you're being tested anyway. (I note though that the jury is still out on the link between iron deficiency and hair loss).

It is also possible for some autoimmune diseases to cause hair loss. Ask if you can have the non-specific inflammatory markers (ESR, CRP) tested as well. Again, if you haven't noticed any symptoms then there probably isn't anything going on but it certainly doesn't hurt to check.

Please let us know if your doctor mentions any others that might be helpful.