Hello All,
I figured I would share my story with you to see if anyone else has had the same problem as me. It started mid June 2015 I was at work and noticed, while looking in the mirror, that my hair had gotten quite thin on the top. My hair at the time was EXTREMELY THICK the month before. My hair had always been thick. It was something I got from my father. My dad is currently 60 and has a full head of thick luscious black hair. My grandfather even passed away with a full head of hair. So I really didn't think I had male pattern baldness.
I normally kept my hair at about 4-5 inches long on top with an undercut and did a side part. I used to blow dry my hair into place, style with wax, and then spray it all down with hair spray. After noticing the thinning i decided maybe I was abusing my hair with all the heat and harsh chemicals. I decided to stop using any type of hair product until my hair got better. I went to get a haircut that same week to get my usual trim. My hairdresser in the middle of cutting my hair stopped to tell me i had patches on the right side of my head. I blew it off and thought it was just some weird cycle my hair was going through. As i was taking a shower a few days later about 30-40 hairs fell into the tub and ran into the drain. It progressively got worse and worse day by day. Some days I'd be sitting in class and hair would just fall onto my desk. My right temple looked like it was starting to recede, so I figured that I somehow had an aggressive form of male pattern baldness. I ran to my primary care doctor and told him what had happened. He pulled at about 6 areas of my head and within each of those pinches, he had about 6-7 strands of hairs between his fingers. He didn't think much of it and told me to take biotin, so I did just that, but the hair continued to fall rapidly and I feared I'd be bald within the next month. My hair had fallen out in a diffuse pattern all over my head but way more on the crown.
I made an appointment with my dermatologists who decided to run a blood test, which came back completely normal. No hormone imbalance, no vitamin deficiencies, no thyroid problems, absolutely nothing wrong! She then decided to do a scalp biopsy and when the results came back it stated that I was likely experiencing a recovery phase of Alopecia areata. The Biopsy report states "Vertical sections demonstrate terminal hair follicles with one vellus follicle and several fibrous streamers without peribulbar inflammation or inflammation within the streamers. Focal melanin is noted within a dermal papilla" . I had no distinct patches of hair loss. The patches on my head still had hair and were not completely bald. They also didn't have hard edges so they weren't very apparent unless you were really looking for them. My doctor said what I had was probably a rare form of AA called Alopecia Areata incognita. She prescribed me clobetasol topical drops to apply twice a day while also taking prednisone 20 mg once daily.
After one month had passed my hair loss had almost completely come to a halt. Couple of more months down the road, the hair that had fallen out has failed to regrow. My right temple region still remains the way it was, the top of my head is still thin and i still have tiny patches through out my whole head. I went back to my derm and she decided to try giving me steroid shots on the crown only to see if it would have a good response. That didn't work. She decided that after that there was nothing else to be done and didn't want to keep giving me meds if i wasn't responding.
I decided to go to a different dermatologist. At this point its May 2016 i shared with her everything I had taken, my biopsy results, blood tests, everything. She performs another biopsy and this time the report states
"Features are those of a non scarring alopecia. Despite the absence of a peribulbar infiltrate, a phase of AA is in the differential diagnosis. The other possibility includes Androgenetic Alopecia with a superimposed component of Telogen Effluvium. There is no evidence of dermatophytosis."
My second dermatologist wants me to go on Xeljanz to see if I respond. If I do we can eliminate the telogen effluvium and male pattern baldness. I'm taking 5mg twice daily. If I do, I guess we'll know what I'm up against. I've only been on xeljanz for almost week but I will keep you guys posted! If I dont respond I really dont know what to do....
Thank You,
- N
Here are some photos of my hair before and after the hair loss:
I figured I would share my story with you to see if anyone else has had the same problem as me. It started mid June 2015 I was at work and noticed, while looking in the mirror, that my hair had gotten quite thin on the top. My hair at the time was EXTREMELY THICK the month before. My hair had always been thick. It was something I got from my father. My dad is currently 60 and has a full head of thick luscious black hair. My grandfather even passed away with a full head of hair. So I really didn't think I had male pattern baldness.
I normally kept my hair at about 4-5 inches long on top with an undercut and did a side part. I used to blow dry my hair into place, style with wax, and then spray it all down with hair spray. After noticing the thinning i decided maybe I was abusing my hair with all the heat and harsh chemicals. I decided to stop using any type of hair product until my hair got better. I went to get a haircut that same week to get my usual trim. My hairdresser in the middle of cutting my hair stopped to tell me i had patches on the right side of my head. I blew it off and thought it was just some weird cycle my hair was going through. As i was taking a shower a few days later about 30-40 hairs fell into the tub and ran into the drain. It progressively got worse and worse day by day. Some days I'd be sitting in class and hair would just fall onto my desk. My right temple looked like it was starting to recede, so I figured that I somehow had an aggressive form of male pattern baldness. I ran to my primary care doctor and told him what had happened. He pulled at about 6 areas of my head and within each of those pinches, he had about 6-7 strands of hairs between his fingers. He didn't think much of it and told me to take biotin, so I did just that, but the hair continued to fall rapidly and I feared I'd be bald within the next month. My hair had fallen out in a diffuse pattern all over my head but way more on the crown.
I made an appointment with my dermatologists who decided to run a blood test, which came back completely normal. No hormone imbalance, no vitamin deficiencies, no thyroid problems, absolutely nothing wrong! She then decided to do a scalp biopsy and when the results came back it stated that I was likely experiencing a recovery phase of Alopecia areata. The Biopsy report states "Vertical sections demonstrate terminal hair follicles with one vellus follicle and several fibrous streamers without peribulbar inflammation or inflammation within the streamers. Focal melanin is noted within a dermal papilla" . I had no distinct patches of hair loss. The patches on my head still had hair and were not completely bald. They also didn't have hard edges so they weren't very apparent unless you were really looking for them. My doctor said what I had was probably a rare form of AA called Alopecia Areata incognita. She prescribed me clobetasol topical drops to apply twice a day while also taking prednisone 20 mg once daily.
After one month had passed my hair loss had almost completely come to a halt. Couple of more months down the road, the hair that had fallen out has failed to regrow. My right temple region still remains the way it was, the top of my head is still thin and i still have tiny patches through out my whole head. I went back to my derm and she decided to try giving me steroid shots on the crown only to see if it would have a good response. That didn't work. She decided that after that there was nothing else to be done and didn't want to keep giving me meds if i wasn't responding.
I decided to go to a different dermatologist. At this point its May 2016 i shared with her everything I had taken, my biopsy results, blood tests, everything. She performs another biopsy and this time the report states
"Features are those of a non scarring alopecia. Despite the absence of a peribulbar infiltrate, a phase of AA is in the differential diagnosis. The other possibility includes Androgenetic Alopecia with a superimposed component of Telogen Effluvium. There is no evidence of dermatophytosis."
My second dermatologist wants me to go on Xeljanz to see if I respond. If I do we can eliminate the telogen effluvium and male pattern baldness. I'm taking 5mg twice daily. If I do, I guess we'll know what I'm up against. I've only been on xeljanz for almost week but I will keep you guys posted! If I dont respond I really dont know what to do....
Thank You,
- N
Here are some photos of my hair before and after the hair loss:
