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Questions
Hi Everyone,
I'm new here and I just have some questions for you all.
I've been having a hard year. I had a doctor misdiagnose me with a disease last year without conducting the proper tests and it had sent me into a tailspin of stress and anxiety. In 2 weeks I completely lost my appetite, didn't sleep for about 3-4 weeks (definitely no sleep the first 2 and very little for the 3rd and 4th weeks). As a result, I lost about 15 pounds in 1.5 weeks.
I went through diagnostic testing for about 6 months and was given the all clear, but through those 6 months I was chronically stressed and anxious - though not as bad as I had been through the first 1-2 months; I basically became hypochondriac.
While tests proved I didn't have the disease the doctor had misdiagnosed me with, the stress seems to have taken it's toll. I'm exhausted all the time now, have developed a mild case of seborrheic dermatitis and the other issue, which has brought me here, is that I have noticed a high rate of shedding of my eyebrows.
When I described my symptoms to my dermatologist, he chalked it up to being a case of telogen effluvium, but he was standing 6 feet away from me and didn't look closely. I'm not saying I don't agree with him, but I just want to be sure.
The hair fall from my eyebrows seems to be diffuse (across both of the eyebrows); so no patches have formed. I've noticed the increased shed rate since about mid-May (2.5 months ago); approximately 9 months after the initial stress trigger (telogen phase for eyebrows is ~9 months vs. 3-4 months for scalp hair). People do not notice them being thinner, but at the rate they shed (approx. 15-25 hairs per day) I would have to assume they are thinning a bit. If I gently pull on them, a lot will come out, however, some appear to be firmly planted. Lastly, when I look really close, I see little hairs growing in; these look normal.
So my questions for you are:
-Does this seem more like telogen effluvium rather than alopecia areata?
-How rapid is hair lost from Alopecia Areata? Days, weeks, months, years? How quickly do bald patches form?
-At what stage would one notice exclamation mark hairs? Mine appear to be telogen hairs (eyebrows).
-Has anyone ever just lost eyebrows? Is it common for both to be affected at the same time?
I hope I don't offend anyone with my questions. It's just that I'm getting anxiety about losing so much eyebrow hair and I've already had such a hard year. I am fortunate that I was born with very thick eyebrows, otherwise I think people would notice some thinning.
Thank you in advance if you read through my post, and I would be very grateful to anyone that may reply.
Duey
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by DM on
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hi duey, i am losing eyebrows at a rapid rate, but i have chronic telogen effluvium and i am losing hair all over my body. when i developed a bad case of seb derm on my eyebrows, thats when they really started falling out. u may be losing the brows from having seb derm there, bc with cte usually , i think, u would be losing hair on ur scalp also. dont know what they told u to do with the seb derm, all they say is use the medicated shampoos and steroid creams- i have done this for 14 months and nothing has helped, lots of scale at the eyebrows and i cannot even stroke them without 2 or 3 sticking to my fingers. i have about a quarter left of them at this point.
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Thanks for the reply DM.
Unfortunately, that's discouraging news and I am sorry to hear about your eyebrow loss.
My seb derm is extremely mild, and I only say mild because it's not extremely itchy, nor is there much (if any) evident inflammation/redness of the skin. In fact, when I tell people about my condition, they say they would have never known; so I'm fortunate and I'm praying that it stays well controlled. Mine is mostly just extreme oil production and mild flaking on the forehead, nose and eyebrows if I don't use the tea tree oil scrubs and medicated shampoos daily. If I shampoo my eyebrows everyday, alternating between Nizoral and Selsun Blue or T-Gel, then the flaking in the eyebrows is controlled, though not completely eliminated.
My question for you is how bad is your seb derm? Do you have really thick/crusty scales in your eyebrows, or is more like light skin flakes akin to dandruff? My flakes are very light and thin...they aren't the thick and crusty scales typical to severe seb derm. Do you find it ever goes into remission? Also, from what I've read, the seb derm (which is really just dandruff on steroids) shouldn't actually cause hair loss; "experts" say the hair loss associated with dandruff and seb derm is cause by the itch/scratch cycle. I always resist the urge to scratch.
When your eyebrow hair comes out, are the telogen hairs? Or are some of the hairs that come out "anagen" phase? Have you ever noticed new hairs growing in? I do notice a lot of new sprouts, so I'm encourage by that right now. The reason I think mine is chronic telogen effluvium is because I only noticed my hair loss starting approx. 9 months after my initial stressor, which is approximately how long eyebrow hair remains in the telogen phase before falling out. Since my stress was a major psychological/emotional turmoil, the stress was constant for almost 6-8 months; typical daily stress isn't enough to cause hair loss, but this was different than typical day-to-day stress. I did notice increased shedding from my scalp hair for a bit, but didn't think anything of it at the time since I attributed it to my stress load.
I appreciate the response. Please stay in touch.
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duey, i think mine is due to increased oil production too...after a shower these thick scales clump together and form a whitish paste all over the brows and i get it on the nose and chin too. i can rub all this skin off when its moist. it has never gone into remission in 14 mths. some derms have said that to me too, but a top hair loss doctor told me that seb derm absolutely causes hairloss and this is true as as soon as i got these scales in the brows the shedding has been severe. i never scratched them. the ends of the brows mostly have a lot of scale at the ends, i dont know if it means its telogen. i was getting good regrowth for a yr and a half but in the last 7 mths it has slowed down a lot so because i am still shedding severely my brows are almost gone. any regrowth i get is very fine and scale starts to form on them so they fall out again.
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Do your eyebrows show any inflammation? Are they very red?
My hairs fall out with very little scale on the ends. They just have a very small keratinized bulb on the end of them. Anagen hairs are in the growth cycle, and if you pluck one of your hairs when it's in this phase, there should be a gel coating around the end of the hair. Also, for what it's worth my hairs that fall out seem to be losing their pigment at the base, while the ones that stay in place that if I pluck are black at the base.
This condition sucks...I'm very frightened to lose my eyebrows. Would transplants work for you? I'm guessing scalp hairs have deeper and more robust hair follicles than our eyebrows do.
I can't believe my year of suffering has just gone from bad to worse...I'm already not very confident. I don't know what to do.
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Also, to add to what I wrote below, from what I've read it may lead to hair loss if left untreated. I'm treating mine and as I've said, for the most part it's all well controlled, though not eliminated. Dandruff doesn't cause most people hair loss, so I'm really confused as to why it should cause you and I hair loss.
Are you male or female? Reason I ask is because you say you have it on your chin. Are you losing any hair from your beard? (answer only if applicable, haha)
Not refuting what you're saying, but there is conflicting information online.
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