Does This Look Like Telogen Effivium ?

[NFFlorida88]

Background..


Just so you know, I've learned my lesson on mistakes that have lead me to where I'm at now lol.

2016 ( aug - dec) -
-Started ramping up weight training regiment w / creatine. ( wasn't a user prior to)
- Injury to elbow (undiagnosed sprain or strain) that lasted about 6 months
- Heart broke by "perfect girl", stressed out unnecessarily as result
- Became depressed due to girl and inability to work out
- Began heavy binge drinking session (lots of hard liquor - I was never a drinker prior to)
- Got fired from job for sales job for lack of performance)
-Stopped drinking cold turkey in Jan.

2017 ( jan - now )

The aftermath

- got shingles, including fever/flu and lymph nodes swelling - February
- Got stomach ulcer and gastritis at the same time as shingles - February
- Herpes meds (shingles) and beta blockers (ulcers)
- lost roughly 30 -40 lbs between (60-70% of muscle mass)10/2016 and 4/2017 lost at least 15- 20lbs from an inability to eat due to being sick
- Still fighting off gastritis issues and taking beta blockers


Hair loss


all of these details I've mentioned are legitimate stressors that could cause telogen effluvium.

- Hair loss begins out of the blue in may exactly three months after shingles and ulcer began
- Full head of hair prior, slight thinness in corner temporal areas, that's been present since around 12-13 years old

Considering all of this plus the pictures shown, do you think?

Pictures shown are between the months of 6/2017 - 8/2017

I will be going to the dermatologist in the next month or so

 

[sangan89]

No man. This looks like male pattern baldness, and an aggressive one as well. Good that you re going to the derma soon

 

[Ray1988]

I really feel really sorry for you it must be so depressing lossing all that hair the quicker you get on finasteride the better I wish you all the best

 

[MR. Incredible]

Don't listen to these ignorant fools. They do not know anything about male pattern baldness and just want people to hop on this depressing bandwagon because they are most likely feeling like crap about themselves. Your thinning looks consistent throughout, and not just the top. You have multiple stressors that are more than enough to cause telogen effluvium. It is most likely Telogen efflivum. But please, please still get it checked by a derm or preferably hair loss specialist. They will tell you for sure. And might even give you meds to help reverse the Telogen effluvium faster. Hope this helped.

 

[dralex]

Go to a hair specialist. That type of loss could definitely be male pattern baldness, but could also be caused by other factors, such as telogen effluvium. How old are you?

 

[NFFlorida88]

Go to a hair specialist. That type of loss could definitely be male pattern baldness, but could also be caused by other factors, such as telogen effluvium. How old are you?

I'm 28.

 

[MR. Incredible]

Ae you noticing excessive shedding?

 

[NFFlorida88]

Ae you noticing excessive shedding?

To me it's excessive. That means it's being lost from all over my scalp especially in the shower. Occasionally will see it on my phone or desk. Several strand come out when I pull a section. I've learned to restrain myself from doing that so I don't get anxiety over it.

 

[Norwoodcemetary]

Wats ur family history in male pattern baldness?

 

[MR. Incredible]

To me it's excessive. That means it's being lost from all over my scalp especially in the shower. Occasionally will see it on my phone or desk. Several strand come out when I pull a section. I've learned to restrain myself from doing that so I don't get anxiety over it.

So contrary to popular belief, excessive shedding is usually not a symptom of Male pattern Baldness. Even though many people believe male pattern baldness causes the hair to fall out, it does not. It only causes hair to regrow thinner after one of its its natural shedding cycles. The hair naturally sheds like all hairs are supposed to do, but the the DHT (Protein responsible for causing male pattern baldness) that sticks to it sort of "chokes" the new growing follicle, making it grow back thinner. After two or three cycles this happens, the hair follicle becomes not only so thin, but all of the sudden so short that it does not even stick out of the skin. It does not cause excess shedding. In fact, I once read a case study that showed that in only some cases, men with male pattern baldness experienced only up to almost a 10% increase in shedding. And the majority of the men in the study with with male pattern baldness experienced no increase in shedding. That means if you shed 100 hairs per day normally, you might at the most shed 10 extra strands of hairs if you are experiencing male pattern baldness (an average non-balding person sheds about 125 hairs per day on their scalp). and this is only because in very few cases, male pattern baldness will very slightly decrease the Anagen (growing) phase of the hair cycle. Shedding 10 extra hairs per day can not be noticeable to anyone.

Now, according to dermotologists, pulling on a section of hair and having more than 1-2 strands fall off almost each time is a major indicator of Telogen Effluvium. Its actually called "the Hair Pull test". This is especially true if it is happening all over your scalp. And based on the pics you showed, the thinning seems to be happening all over your scalp, and not just a specific area. male pattern baldness is only limited to the top and front of the scalp, not the sides and/or back. Telogen Effluvium usually happens all over the scalp. You have all of the signs and symptoms of Telogen Effluvium, it seems. On top of that, you have had like 6 major stresses on your body like shingles, emotional stess, severe illness, and rapid weight loss... You only need one of those to trigger Telogen Effluvium.

Luckily for you, Telogen Effluvium is temporary, and 100% of the hair should start to grow back within up to six months... that is unless you also have Telogen Effluvium and male pattern baldness at the same time, which is very unlikely lol. But please see a dermatologist or hair loss specialist. They can properly diagnose you, and give you the right treatments to increase the rate of recovery. Do not rely on people's oppinions in this forum; Most of them don't know a shred of information about hair-loss.

P.S I don't care who you are, but wetting your hair will make your scalp visible. I have the thickest head of hair I've ever seen, and even if I wet my hair, I can easily see my scalp. You wetted your hair in your pics. Just saying.

You can have some trust in my opinions. I am an incoming medical student with a few Dermatologists in my family, and I have done hundreds of hours of research regarding hair loss. Make an appointment with your Derm or a hairloss specialist, and put your mind to rest. Til then, get some sleep, and don't worry about it.

Hope this helped.

 

[Mr. Prince]

No one can tell you without seeing pictures of your hair before. Like a year or something. male pattern baldness acts slow while Telogen Effluvium acts faster. The thinning in your donor area makes me think it is actually Telogen Effluvium but you could actually have both. Or to rephrase it, you could have male pattern baldness genes and Telogen Effluvium just kickstarted your male pattern baldness.

 

[NFFlorida88]

Wats ur family history in male pattern baldness?

My father = shaved head, presumably bald. I don't speak with him so I have no further details as to when this may have started, id say between 28 - 45 years of age. One thing to note, is that my fatherand I do not have the same grade of hair. I have hair texture, thinness and curliness like my mothers family. Not sure if that matter as related to DHT scalp sensitivity.

My half brother = same age (28), same father = full head of hair, I've seen pictures of him with hair
Mothers father (grandfather) = visibly bald at 79.
Mothers brother (uncle) full head of hair at age 55

At the end of the day, the odds are against me. If I can make it to my mid-40s or 50s with hair I will be content.

 

[NFFlorida88]

So contrary to popular belief, excessive shedding is usually not a symptom of Male pattern Baldness. Even though many people believe male pattern baldness causes the hair to fall out, it does not. It only causes hair to regrow thinner after one of its its natural shedding cycles. The hair naturally sheds like all hairs are supposed to do, but the the DHT (Protein responsible for causing male pattern baldness) that sticks to it sort of "chokes" the new growing follicle, making it grow back thinner. After two or three cycles this happens, the hair follicle becomes not only so thin, but all of the sudden so short that it does not even stick out of the skin. It does not cause excess shedding. In fact, I once read a case study that showed that in only some cases, men with male pattern baldness experienced only up to almost a 10% increase in shedding. And the majority of the men in the study with with male pattern baldness experienced no increase in shedding. That means if you shed 100 hairs per day normally, you might at the most shed 10 extra strands of hairs if you are experiencing male pattern baldness (an average non-balding person sheds about 125 hairs per day on their scalp). and this is only because in very few cases, male pattern baldness will very slightly decrease the Anagen (growing) phase of the hair cycle. Shedding 10 extra hairs per day can not be noticeable to anyone.

Now, according to dermotologists, pulling on a section of hair and having more than 1-2 strands fall off almost each time is a major indicator of Telogen Effluvium. Its actually called "the Hair Pull test". This is especially true if it is happening all over your scalp. And based on the pics you showed, the thinning seems to be happening all over your scalp, and not just a specific area. male pattern baldness is only limited to the top and front of the scalp, not the sides and/or back. Telogen Effluvium usually happens all over the scalp. You have all of the signs and symptoms of Telogen Effluvium, it seems. On top of that, you have had like 6 major stresses on your body like shingles, emotional stess, severe illness, and rapid weight loss... You only need one of those to trigger Telogen Effluvium.

Luckily for you, Telogen Effluvium is temporary, and 100% of the hair should start to grow back within up to six months... that is unless you also have Telogen Effluvium and male pattern baldness at the same time, which is very unlikely lol. But please see a dermatologist or hair loss specialist. They can properly diagnose you, and give you the right treatments to increase the rate of recovery. Do not rely on people's oppinions in this forum; Most of them don't know a shred of information about hair-loss.

P.S I don't care who you are, but wetting your hair will make your scalp visible. I have the thickest head of hair I've ever seen, and even if I wet my hair, I can easily see my scalp. You wetted your hair in your pics. Just saying.

You can have some trust in my opinions. I am an incoming medical student with a few Dermatologists in my family, and I have done hundreds of hours of research regarding hair loss. Make an appointment with your Derm or a hairloss specialist, and put your mind to rest. Til then, get some sleep, and don't worry about it.

Hope this helped.

I agree, Hair loss does seem to be all over my scalp.

I understand what you're saying about the wet hair. Three of those pictures were with wet hair intentionally. When the back area is dry it looks consistent via picture but doesn't feel that way via hand touching. Wet hair pictures in my opinion, shows my the true missing spots on my scalp.

The first two pictures are with dry hair. That was the day I got a hair cut, and soon as took the pictures I could tell there was a major loss of hair over a course of a month or so.

 

[NFFlorida88]

No one can tell you without seeing pictures of your hair before. Like a year or something. male pattern baldness acts slow while Telogen Effluvium acts faster. The thinning in your donor area makes me think it is actually Telogen Effluvium but you could actually have both. Or to rephrase it, you could have male pattern baldness genes and Telogen Effluvium just kickstarted your male pattern baldness.

I don't have any pictures I could show from last year. I grew my hair out on the top for a whole year before I was forced to cut it because of the hair loss. In that time, I used to aggressively style with a comb and gel to achieve the look I wanted with my curly hair. During that time there wasn't any significant shedding hair in the comb. That plus my scalp felt consistent all the way through.

Its always possible that male pattern baldness may have been kickstarted. The Derm will help me figure that out. If so, at least im catching it early

 

[NFFlorida88]

Does anyone have any recommendations on anything I should read or begin to take before I visit the derm at the end of Sept? Is it worth trying to fight male pattern baldness as a possibility if you're not even sure I have it? OR should I just hang tight another month before I do anything at all?

Best case scenario, if doctors says it is Telogen Effluvium, I would still take this as a learning experience for prevention due to family history

 

[MR. Incredible]

Another month should not make much of a difference. In the meantime, you can go to your nearest Walmart or Walgreen's and pick up some Biotin. That will definately help strengthen your hair and help it grow faster. Also, change your diet to natural foods that inhibit DHT production. The best foods for this are mangos, watermelon, tomatoes, Carrots, Salmon, spinach, lean poultry, green tea, and liver. Honorable mentions: Almond Butter, Tangerines, Guava, Cinamon, and Oat meal. Foods that boost DHT levels that you must Avoid: Coffee, Diet Sodas & other soft drinks, alcohol, and sugary food ( i.e candy & chocolate). Also, increase your intake of Organic foods, as they are much healthier, with much less junk and added hormones. Your diet can play a big factor in hair loss. I don't know why people do not talk about diet more often in this forum. Anyways, This is the best you can do to help slow down and reverse hair-loss until you see your dermatologist. Good luck.

 

[NFFlorida88]

Another month should not make much of a difference. In the meantime, you can go to your nearest Walmart or Walgreen's and pick up some Biotin. That will definately help strengthen your hair and help it grow faster. Also, change your diet to natural foods that inhibit DHT production. The best foods for this are mangos, watermelon, tomatoes, Carrots, Salmon, spinach, lean poultry, green tea, and liver. Honorable mentions: Almond Butter, Tangerines, Guava, Cinamon, and Oat meal. Foods that boost DHT levels that you must Avoid: Coffee, Diet Sodas & other soft drinks, alcohol, and sugary food ( i.e candy & chocolate). Also, increase your intake of Organic foods, as they are much healthier, with much less junk and added hormones. Your diet can play a big factor in hair loss. I don't know why people do not talk about diet more often in this forum. Anyways, This is the best you can do to help slow down and reverse hair-loss until you see your dermatologist. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. I'm a step ahead already as I've had to watch what I eat due to gastritis. This is just positive reinforcement to continue with the healthy food path. Buying organic should be much more pocket-friendly now that whole foods has lowered their prices