I sometimes hear from people who don't feel as if they have typical hair loss. Many are grateful for this because it means that they aren't shedding and it doesn't appear as if they are aggressively losing their hair.
However, they are noticing one area that is receding or thinning. Sometimes, this is in areas like the temple, the crown, or even the bangs.
I might hear a comment like: "I don't think that I'm shedding hair. I don't notice any more hair in the shower drain or in my brush.
For the most part, I have a full head of hair and I look pretty normal - with the exception of one area. And that's my temples.
I'm a woman and my temples are most definitely receding. I started to notice this about a year ago, but I hoped that I was only imaging it.
The other day, I decided to wear my hair in a pony tail. I pulled my hair straight back and I was absolutely shocked. My temples almost looked as if there were notches cut out of it because my hair was so receded in that area.
After that, I examined my whole scalp. This is the only area that is noticeably bad. My crown looks OK. My part line still looks normal.
Are these areas going to start thinning too? I know that my temples are changing because I can look at old pictures of my hair in a pony tail and see that I used to have normal looking temples.
What does the future hold for me? Will my temples become bald? Will this spread to others areas of my head?"
I can't predict the future. But, I can tell you that in my own experience, it's possible to only have issues on one part of your head.
In my own life, I started with telogen effluvium after the birth of one of my children. I was comforted by specialists who told me that the shedding should stop in a couple of months.
It didn't. It went on and on for well over a year. I still can't be entirely sure what happened, but I suspect it was chronic telogen effluvium that gave way to something else.
Because although I finally got serious about identifying and treating my triggers and the vast majority of my hair grew back, I did have some thinning in the temples and, to a lessor extent, to the crown.
I knew that these were high androgen areas and I did treat them early with topicals. The crown area improved in time and one of the temples came back. But one of my temples is still not entirely normal. Because I part my hair on one side, it isn't noticeable.
The point is, my thinning never moved on to other areas of my head. And perhaps that is partly due to treatment. I do spot treat high androgen areas, so perhaps that has helped.
By no means am I a hair loss specialist. If you haven't already, I suggest you see one, but I don't think that you need to panic and I certainly think it makes sense to suspect an androgenetic condition.
Also, it's my opinion that until you see issues in other areas, you don't need to assume that you are going to have a problem. I think that it might be premature to just assume that you will have issues in other areas besides the temples.
I'm not sure that you need to assume that the crown or top is going to be affected as well. This hasn't been the case for me. It would be different if you were seeing diffuse shedding or thinning in other areas, but you're not.
I don't see anything wrong with treating the affected areas and then waiting to see what will happen (while watching the rest of your scalp very carefully, of course.)
Because the truth is, some topicals can cause hair loss, especially at first. When you are already thinning, you are willing to tolerate this because you're wiling to take the trade off for increased hair growth in that area over the long run.
However, if you don't yet have a problem in a certain area, then I would consider waiting, unless a doctor or specialist indicates otherwise.
This is only my opinion, but I've always thought that while early and aggressive treatment is a good idea, it's only a good idea when you know there is an issue in that area. I'd encourage you to see a specialist though to be sure.
As I alluded to, I've had an ongoing battle with my temples but they are pretty stable now. One is more thin than I might like, but it's not noticeable to others.
If it helps, you can read more on my blog at http://stop-hair-loss-in-women.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ava_Alderman
No comments:
Post a Comment