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Please help! Is alopecia contagious?
Hi all,
Quick back story, I am 28 with AU, it started when I was 14 and had progressed to AT at 21. I have been away from this forum for around 2 years now after finally excepting my alopecia was here for good.
Over the last 3 months I have been in a relationship, my longest ever relationship since battling alopecia. The girl I am dating is 25 and has never had any kind of hair loss issues ever, however over the last 3-4 weeks now we have been noticing the horrible early signs of alopecia in her. We wake up with the pillow covered in her long brown hair, the bathroom is covered with her hair, every time she brushes her hair an excessive amount are hairs are left in the brush, something she doesn't recall ever happening, every time i run my hands through her hair an alarming amount falls out into my hands. Last night after coming out of the shower she noticed a considerable thin spot at the side of her hairline, not a bald patch but just very thin. I was very worried so began to examen the rest of her scalp for any bald spots, she has very long thick hair so I couldn't target any bald spots but thats not to say they don't exhist. She has told me that she feels like hair her has been shedding more then usual over the last 4-6 months but never anything that had concerned her until these last couple of weeks.
My question is does anyone have any experience of having a partner developing alopecia in the following months after they have began a relationship?? I have researched extensively and by all accounts alopecia IS NOT contagious! But I find all of this to be too much of a coincidence. I pray to god that this is just excessive shedding and everything will turn out to be fine but the signs remind me soooo much of how my alopecia began. I feel absolutely terrible and it is almost as if I am reliving the onset of alopecia all over again.
I am writing this post at 5:30 am whilst the girl in question is asleep next to me. This has taken over my life for the last week or so now and I just need some kind of reassurance that everything will be ok. I am not letting her know how worriedI am as I do not want her to worry or stress out. I have reassured her that everything will be fine and it is just regular shedding. Truth is I am worried beyond belief.
Any input will be appreciated.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Emmanuel Khristoffer Fonacier on
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I have alopecia since pre-school and I am 24 yrs. old. I have a whole bunch of friends and cousins. I still live with my family and I have a beautiful fiancee. None of them have became infected. :)
It is not fungal, viral nor bacterial in nature. It's just your immune system acting too much. ;)
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Permalink Reply by SophieG on
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Hi Danny,
Alopecia is not contagious. I've had AA for 9 years now. Mine was brought on through getting glandular fever and I kept pushing myself. The stress of uni and constantly going out partying soon caught up with me and my hair feel out in big patches. I've been with my fiance and he's had no problems with hair loss... Just normal thinning. To be honest my my hair has been awful since we had to suddenly put one of our dogs down very suddenly. I've had to end up cutting off my hair and getting a wig.
Has your partner been stressed lately? Please try not to stress out. It's not contagious!
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Permalink Reply by Debbi Fuller on
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It is not contagious. One out of every 100 people will get AA at some point in their lives. She already had this predisposition when you met her but she wasn't aware of it. If you look at the rest of her family, I bet you will find other auto-immune diseases there. Definitely NOT catching. A lot of us have been married for a million years and none of our spouses have AA (unless they already had it or had a predisposition).
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I'm no dr but with all the research I've done for my 9 yr old daughter, no, it's not contagious. Have her get some blood work done and get her thyroid checked. Other things cause hair loss. The signature bald patches are missing so it just doesn't sound like AA. Good luck to u both and God bless!
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Permalink Reply by P8MTY on
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I have never heard of it being contagious. I have AU and it hasn't affected my wife or child.
Tell her to go and see her doctor. The hair loss may not strictly be alopecia but may be some other scalp condition that is treatable with a prescription shampoo.
But if it is alopecia, then it is purely coincidental and I would be very surprised if its anything to do with you. Remember, just because it is statistically unlikely that you would meet up with another alopecian by accident, it doesn't mean it can't happen. In fact it's more likely to happen than you win the lottery, and someone does that every week.
Look on the plus side - at least you know what it's like and you can support her through what's happening - it will make it so much easier for her than feeling alone with her condition.Pete
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Permalink Reply by Rayan on
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Yaw i recognise you from HIS hair pigmentation your story inspired me :)
Take it easy, i've been with many girls non of them have had the alopicia altho i wish some of them had :X
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Permalink Reply by Andrea on
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Definitely not contagious, just genetic in some cases. Focus your energy on using your experience to help her - you are in a unique position which is such a blessing. She needs to see a doctor.
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Danny -
I have overall hair thinning, which started CRAZY suddenly with tons of shedding, out of nowhere, as a 41 year old woman. It freaked me out (as I had loved my hair). As a result, I have done tons and tons of research (I am a scientist by education and have access to professional journals and all, too). I have never read of alopecia being contagious.
What I have read, a LOT, on several hair loss support forums, is that many young women lose tons of hair from today's birth control pills (and also and especially, the IUD). Has your girlfriend recently started birth control? That is the first thing that came to my mind that could be the cause for her.
Also... I may be off base here, as it is a highly personal thng, but I think most young women would be worried sick themselves to experience sudden shedding.. I think you should let her know you are worried.. it would show her you care, and allow her to talk to you about it.
I hope this helps :)
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Permalink Reply by danny on
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Thanks you everyone for your speedy replies, they are very much appreciated.
Joyce,
She has recently started taking birth control, pretty much 1 month after we got together so for the last 2 months or so. I also suspected the birth control could be causing the problem but she has informed me that this is the same birth control she had been using for years in the past. She had actually stopped taking the birth control in January of this year and has only gone back to it in mid May so im not sure if this could be causing the problem. She is going to see her doctor in a couple of hours. Is there any specific tests she should ask for? I remember when I first went to the doctor for my alopecia and he totally dismissed that there was an issue, he just told me to forget about it and it would go away...
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Danny - hmm. Well it would not be unheard of for a pharmaceutical company to change their formula.. and what worked n the past could work differently later... hormones are tricky things to control! I would ask for a full sex hormone panel (including testosterone), thyroid (FREE levels n the blood of T3, T4) and an iron panel, to rule out some other typical female hair loss causes.. but they may find nothing. But it s worth a look. Yes, many doctors shrug it off; took me a long time to find one that cared at all.
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Permalink Reply by Dena on
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Hormonal fluctuations can definitely cause hair thinning. Even though she has been on it before it affects her hormones when she starts up with them again. I am a mother of a child with AU and have never had any problems with Alopecia, but after the birth of my children I did lose a lot of hair. Once my hormones straightened out everything was o.k. Have her ask her doctor to be on the safe side, but it has nothing to do with your Alopecia.
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As everyone else has said, it's definitely not contagious, and maybe not even Alopecia. But I will tell you that, randomly enough, I developed AA just a few months after one of my closest friends did. We joked that she has given it to me but we knew it was just a strange coincidence. It's been nice to have her for support, though, and if your girlfriend does have some form of Alopecia, she will surely appreciate your support, too.
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