Question of the Month

Q:  I am a 41 year old woman who is loosing my hair rapidly. I have been to several doctors and they all tell me the same thing. Learn to live with it. I have been on thyroid hormone replacement therapy since 1994 and have been loosing my hair since then. My 14 year old daughter is also loosing her hair as well There is no history of hair loss in my family. I don’t understand this. I have had my daughter tested for thyroid problem and she has none. I read all of the information on your website. My hair is so dry and brittle that it gets tangled up very easily on the ends and then just falls out by the hand full. I do not want to loose all of the hair I have. I have requested estrogen replacement from my doctor. I am supposed to start in about a week. I really don’t know if this will help or not. But I have tried Rogaine and it did not help. I have tried many other products on the web as well. Nothing has worked. Please advise if there is any thing I should do to help my daughter and myself grow our hair back and stop the loss of hair now.


A: As I am sure you realize, I can give only general information over the web, not specific diagnoses or treatment recommendations.

In the forties, hormonal alopecia can be due to the effect of testosterone or to falling estrogen levels. Before that, in the teens or twenties, it is usually related to testosterone.

Mild thyroid underactivity does not usually cause hair loss.

If estrogen is the problem estrogen replacement, sometimes at higher than minimum doses is most likely to help. When it is testosterone-related then treatment is aimed at lowering and blocking testosterone. Both approaches are discussed on this website.

Hope this is helpful.

Sincerely,

Geoffrey Redmond, MD

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