Newly diagnosed in California

I'm 62, live in California, and have just been diagnosed with FFA.

I was diagnosed hypothyroid last fall and my hair loss was attributed to that. After I noticed about an inch of hairline loss, I Googled "postmenopausal female hairline" and up came FFA. I made an appointment with my dermo and told her what I thought I had and she scoffed. Until she looked at my hairline and then said I was exactly right. She said I have a 50-50 chance of halting the hair loss. She put me on Clobetasol lotion and said she'd do research. She called me just a few hours later with my Finasteride script.

On Tuesday night this week, she presented my case at the county dermatologists' board. About 30 doctors examined my scalp, asked me lots of good questions about onset and what I've tried. Then they consulted and wrote up a report for my dermo, which I'll get next week sometime. If there's anything new I haven't read on these boards, I'll be sure to mention it.

One thing my dermo said was that she might have missed the FFA diagnosis and instead said it was menopause-related. So she was actually good about it and clearly is interested in determining effective treatment.

My primary care doc is also very engaged since she has hair loss of her own. She gave me a script for Latisse that seems to be working on my nearly gone eyebrows. She uses a laser cap herself but I haven't read much on them yet. She also prescribed Cosmedix dietary supplement and Rogaine compounded at 6 percent. I haven't started the Rogaine yet - I've heard once you start on it you can never stop.

Thank goodness I found this board! I feel very alone in this as my friends say they can't tell and my husband says I am not my hair and that's nice. But I'm glad to have a place to talk about the emotional aspects of this.


This is pretty long - I'll try not to be so wordy in the future.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by gra on August 25, 2016 at 1:53pm

Hi Gittan,

How is your treatment with Otezla?

I just learned that Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is doing a clinical trial with Oztela. 

Permalink Reply by Gittan on August 25, 2016 at 4:51pm
I now have had Otezla three months. I think my hair loss is quite slow. Some days I find some straws but most days I don't. I still have had an itchy scalp but not when I wash my hair with skin protection shower oil. I didn' t think it would work but it works better than corticosteroid solution.
I don't know how my hair loss would have been without Otezla. But I think that the progess has been slowered. It will be interesting when Imeet my Derm in the end of September to hear her opinion. The medication is coverered by the national health insurrance, but it is expensive and still is just recommended to psoriasis. Her evaluation will compare photos from before medication started with the actual picture from my forehead. Interesting to hear about the study. I will askmy Derm if they are a part in it. As my country is small many doctors are part of international research and partcipate in medical drug testing.
Permalink Reply by Gittan on August 25, 2016 at 6:05pm
No I have no side effects at all. The first two weeks I had a small intestinal reaction. But after that period I have no problems with the medication

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