Hey folks. I just want to reiterate what many have already said: I'm grateful that such a website exists out there!
Growing up, I always had thick, dark brown hair. Shortly after I turned 18, a patch of my hair began falling out - I noticed because the hair was collecting at the bottom of the drain after I took a shower. Now my dad is close to 50 and still has a full head of pretty thick hair, and both my grandfathers still have a very good head of hair. I went to see my doctor, he said it was just a random case of my hair falling out, nothing to worry about. Sadly, that didn't turn out to be the case.
The hair loss became progressively worse over time, so around the age of 19, I went to see a dermatologist. After a biopsy, he deduced it was Lichen Planus, or lichen planopilaris (which is lichen planus of the scalp). Basically, your immune system goes into overdrive and actually begins attacking the hair follicles on your head, causing them to scar - and resulting in permanent hairloss. In addition, you can develop scaly bumps on your scalp, which can itch or burn.
Since then, I have been on a regular prescription of immune suppressants (as well as a topical solution). Most of the time, given treatment, lichen planus will disappear after 6 months to a year, though it can reoccur again. In my case, I'm still seeing a doctor and taking medication. However, my lichen planus has finally settled down enough that I'm losing an average amount of hair when I shower, and the surface of my scalp is fairly normal (no bumps).
Patches of my hair are gone. It's not *too* awful simply because my remaining hair can grow long enough to cover those patches. What has really upset me, though, is that the hair directly above my forehead has greatly thinned out. I'm the kind of guy who likes to grow his hair out long and have bangs, but my bangs are so thin and light that I can't help but feel self-conscious about them. I could also never comb my hair back without it being obvious that my hair has thinned.
For a long time, my struggle was just to get the right medication so my hair would stop falling out and my scalp would return to normal. Now that I'm there, I'm starting to wonder if it could be possible to regrow some of what I've lost, or at least regain some thickness to parts of my hair. Lichen planus does cause the hair follicles to scar, meaning they can't regrow hair, but perhaps there's some kind of treatment that could help strengthen the hair I do have left.
I'd appreciate any advice, if someone could point me in the right direction. Would Rogaine work, or should I look into a Rx medication? It's depressing for me to think that I could have looked forward to many more years of thick hair if not for this disease. I do plan to discuss this with my dermatologist the next time I see him. Thanks for reading, guys! If you think it would help, I'll post some pictures in the future.
Growing up, I always had thick, dark brown hair. Shortly after I turned 18, a patch of my hair began falling out - I noticed because the hair was collecting at the bottom of the drain after I took a shower. Now my dad is close to 50 and still has a full head of pretty thick hair, and both my grandfathers still have a very good head of hair. I went to see my doctor, he said it was just a random case of my hair falling out, nothing to worry about. Sadly, that didn't turn out to be the case.
The hair loss became progressively worse over time, so around the age of 19, I went to see a dermatologist. After a biopsy, he deduced it was Lichen Planus, or lichen planopilaris (which is lichen planus of the scalp). Basically, your immune system goes into overdrive and actually begins attacking the hair follicles on your head, causing them to scar - and resulting in permanent hairloss. In addition, you can develop scaly bumps on your scalp, which can itch or burn.
Since then, I have been on a regular prescription of immune suppressants (as well as a topical solution). Most of the time, given treatment, lichen planus will disappear after 6 months to a year, though it can reoccur again. In my case, I'm still seeing a doctor and taking medication. However, my lichen planus has finally settled down enough that I'm losing an average amount of hair when I shower, and the surface of my scalp is fairly normal (no bumps).
Patches of my hair are gone. It's not *too* awful simply because my remaining hair can grow long enough to cover those patches. What has really upset me, though, is that the hair directly above my forehead has greatly thinned out. I'm the kind of guy who likes to grow his hair out long and have bangs, but my bangs are so thin and light that I can't help but feel self-conscious about them. I could also never comb my hair back without it being obvious that my hair has thinned.
For a long time, my struggle was just to get the right medication so my hair would stop falling out and my scalp would return to normal. Now that I'm there, I'm starting to wonder if it could be possible to regrow some of what I've lost, or at least regain some thickness to parts of my hair. Lichen planus does cause the hair follicles to scar, meaning they can't regrow hair, but perhaps there's some kind of treatment that could help strengthen the hair I do have left.
I'd appreciate any advice, if someone could point me in the right direction. Would Rogaine work, or should I look into a Rx medication? It's depressing for me to think that I could have looked forward to many more years of thick hair if not for this disease. I do plan to discuss this with my dermatologist the next time I see him. Thanks for reading, guys! If you think it would help, I'll post some pictures in the future.
As you can see I'm a newbie myself but I wanted to say talking with your dermatologist sounds like a good idea. You can also try contacting Rogain's company and see if they'd say anything useful. Maybe Nizoral too since it's a growth stimulant? And there is Toco-8. Not much scientific backing but they have 1 study in which the participants have different types of alopecia, not just androgenetic alopecia/male pattern baldness, and they get pretty good results. They think it's about anti-oxidant effects of vitamin e or something like that. When I think of anti-oxidant, I think about reversing and regeneration so maybe that'll help in your case? You may wanna contact Toco-8's company 2.