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My regrowth story!
hi there,
i wanted to share this story to hopefully send some hope to you guys. my story is that my junior year all of my hair fell out, decided to shave it in july of 2010, and have been wearing a wig since.
treatments i've done:
DCP- extremely uncomfortable and itchy, not worth it in my opinion
cortisone shots- painful, but i think this really help my hair to start growing. i still do them
laser- tried this for a few weeks and am not sure if it helped or if it's the shots.
now, again, i'm not sure if these are the reason it's coming back, or if it's just my own body. right now, my doctor says i have 90-95% of my hair back. it's shorter in the front, but almost covers my neck in the back. it seems to be strong and i use nioxin for shampoo. i have a part, and also a few interesting white pieces of hair.
my only concern is that it'll all just fall out again, as this is so unpredictable. but i am so so so happy on how it's looking. i'm still wearing a wig, simply because i'd rather wait until it is all even and maybe a little bit longer.
has anyone had this much success and have it all fall out again?
here are some bad pictures i took today to show...it may be difficult to tell, but just some visual aid.
don't lose hope! i've always had a pretty positive attitude throughout this but i know i would be heartbroken if i had to go through it again.
i also think that going to college and living my life helped a great deal. i did go out with my friends and had the time of my life, so being not very stress definitely helped.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Vesselsong on
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Congratulations on your progress. God speed to your hair follicles!
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I have a very similar story, but unfortunately, it's not heading in the right direction but I think it's only because my doctor stoppped giving me shots once my hair was all filled in. I've had AU for about 2 1/2 years now. In December I started with my first steroid shot. By April it was all filled in pretty good. So my doctor decided to stop giving me shots to see if I would be one of the lucky ones to keep my hair. I'm not. On the 4th of July was my unveiling of my "new" hair. At that point it was still pretty strong and a very cute pixie cut. But then a week ago it started falling back out again, and quite fast. I just wish he wouldn't of stopped giving me shots. Just maybe spread them out a little further than every 4 weeks. So I started back on injections this past Friday. The bummer part, I've lost about half of my hair again. What I'm interested in finding out from you is how often do you get your injections and what can you tell me about the laser treatment. I've also been thinking about looking into that. There was recently a news story on our local news about it and hair growth and how amazing it's been. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you that you continue to have positive results. Hope to hear back from you. Andrea
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Hi Andrea,
I want to provide some perspective. I received the injections every 6-8 weeks, off and on for several years. They didn't work for me at all. My doctor advised me that it's not good to continue the injections long-term as they will cause the scalp to thin which will only make matters worse in terms of your hair being restored. From what my doctor told me, the injections (steroids) is supposed to remove inflammation from the scalp (which should promote hair growth). If there is no inflammation in the scalp then there is really no need for the treatments. I started to notice dents in my scalp from the injections. I didn't wait for my doctor to recommend discontinuing the treatments. I suggested it. It was pointless to continue the treatments. After about 6 months, my scalp returned to its natural state (with no dents). As for the laser treatments, I went for a free consultation last week. There are many centers that provide this service. I can only provide feedback on the one where I visited. In a nutshell, they wanted me to pay $3500.00 upfront for a year (35 visits for 30 minutes for each appointment). There is no guarantee the treatments will work. If it doesn't work, that's $3500.00 down the drain. If you go this route, I suggest looking for a Trichology Center that allows their clients to pay for the treatments individually. This way you are able to discontinue the treatments (spending wisely) after determining within a reasonable time frame that the treatments are not working. It might be a great idea to see if you can locate a center that provides free services up to so many visits. I was chatting with someone on Alopecia World who told me she/he had 5 free laser treatments and felt cheated, despite not having paid anything for the treatment. Tread softly. Hope this helps.
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Permalink Reply by me on
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Hi Andrea,
I get my injections every month or so. While I'm at school it's harder to keep that schedule, but it still is always about a month.
As for the laser treatment, I'm not sure if that's what got my hair back, or if it was the shots, or if it's just my own body. Either way, it can't hurt to try! I stopped doing it because I didn't want my summer to consist of driving 40 minutes each way in traffic to do it when the shots work just fine.
I hope your hair comes back and stays this time! Good luck :)
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I also have a regrowth story. My alopecia started 2 years ago. My hair was falling out quite rapidly and I was able to get it to see a derm quickly. He started me on cyclosproine, an immune suppressant. I was on that for 4 months and that stopped the hair from falling out. Then he started me on sulphasalozine also, which is another immune suppresant. I was allergic to that so I stopped taking that. Then my hair started to fall out again. So after that I stopped all medication and supplements altogether and all the hair on my head fell out. I was shaving my little strands I had left for about 8 months when I realized I had fairly large black patches of hair. So I decided to let it grow and see how it looked. Well it all grew back. I would say 90% regrowth. I have had 2 hair cuts since then, but.... it is falling out again in small patches. I am trying some essential oils to see what that does? Hopefully the spots will be managable! I am loving my hair but realistically I am sure I will be shaving again someday.!
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Permalink Reply by kellyc on
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My 6 year old daughter was with no hair, brows or lashes since age 4. Over the past few months, her lashes and brows have filled in, she has mostly peach fuzz on her head, plus a patch of dark hair mixed in with the peach fuzz. We do not do any treatments.
I'm actually very nervous that she will get her hopes up only to lose it all again. Plus, her wig works best with no hair on her head. But I know there is nothing she wants more than to have her hair back...
I hope this works out for you. I love hearing stories of regrowth...and of people living their lives without the stress that this can cause. Your positive attitude makes me smile:)
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