Hello my fellow Alopecians!

I wanted to share a pivotal moment in my life with you guys, and specifically wanted to hear your thoughts. I recently went to see a brand new dermatologist, who shocked my by saying: "You know, your hair can grow back. There was a study done in Turkey recently where the women took three months of prednisone, along with anti-inflammatory drugs and Tums each day to counteract the calcium loss from the prednisone, and they experienced COMPLETE regrowth!"

Sitting on the examining table...my clinic standard-issue paper gown scrunching slightly beneath my hands in my lap, my eyes widened in surprise. And then my mouth pursed, waiting for the punchline. "Okkk..." I said, reeling from this news, trying to assimilate this information after three years of being an Alopecian.

And then the punchline came. My eyebrows raised, mouth slightly ajar, as I listened to the new (and very smart, perky and energetic) dermatologist try to sell me on this new course of therapy.

"Now, there are some very serious side effects to taking prednisone...we normally only prescribe prednisone for no more than two weeks at a time, but those with alopecia who had complete regrowth took it for three months, and then took more drugs for another six months in some cases." Me, thinking to myself "NO KIDDING, serious side effects! Mega-steroids for three months???" And then she rattled off the list of side effects...

"Osteoporosis...you'd have to take Tums three times a day to counteract the calcium loss to your bones...and you'd gain 10 pounds...you should watch your diet...and you' develop a small hump at the center of your back, and you'd have to take an anti-inflammatory drug in conjunction with the prednisone...and it would affect your energy level - it's like taking adrenaline..."

As she rattled off the list, my eyes grew wider and wider, and then my mind faded out of reality and I thought "But I like myself bald! Wait, wait - but being bald, this is ME now. You want to change ME? And I'd have to subject my body to this?" And then the kicker, the shocker, the idea that I had only prayed for in my most quiet of moments...somewhere along the way I had finally accepted that I had alopecia, and more shockingly, that my hair might NEVER grow back. Effectively, being bald and having alopecia had at some point fused itself into me, my self-concept. It's ME, a part of ME. I am no longer two people dueling in the mirror, pain and happiness. And so, when she told me that I could subject my body to these terrors and rigors, I reacted akin to someone suggesting I cut off my nose - "What!!!?" And then indignation, "Why should I do THAT?"

By the time my mind faded back into reality, she was finishing her spiel..."But it would only be for three months!!" Nice - I'd only have a hump in my back for three months, and coming down off my crack high and losing that extra 10 pounds or so would be a BREEZE. ONLY THREE MONTHS. Yaayyy crack!!

So, my fellow family: Does anyone else see the irony in this? I had once prayed that I'd always be able to see my own beauty, because at first I had been terrified, paralyzed by the idea that my body would be ugly forever without hair. Now, after several years of a gut-twisting, painful and rewarding psychological journey, I feel beautiful...and in a caustic twist of fate, a doctor is telling me that if I do some really ugly things to my body, I'll grow my hair back! Ironic!? I think so.

So tell me fellow Alopecians: What do you think? How far would you go, what would you subject your body to, to have your hair grow back? Has anyone tried this course of therapy? Just so you know, I told the doctor I'd do some more research on it, but I declined treatment. But, I'm more interested in the philosophical aspects of this question. I am asking because if a doctor had told me this a year ago, when I was in a different place in my psychological journey, I would be nursing the hump in my back and running around like a crack baby at this very moment. But, what would you do?