How to know it’s telogen effluvium?

[Langsverd]

I’ve been losing hair last months, on top. It’s pretty thin now. Can see my scalp. It arose after some harrowing emotional stress, and the advent of beginning an epileptic drug. But how can I know it’s telogen effluvium, and not just rapid regular thinning?

My maternal uncles are pretty thin on top. I am also considering the therapies for Telogen Effluvium listed here, though I have no idea whether they’re effective.

Telogen effluvium - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Mandar kumthekar]

In male pattern baldness hairs thins and becomes short and slightly curls.also they loose pigment and becomes faint.Male pattern baldness starts at temples.so see your temples ,if they are thinned or lost density then its male pattern baldness .best luck.

 

[Langsverd]

I am panicky. I run my hands through my hair, and it's not the usual one to two strands, but ten strands of hair on my hands. My sheet has fallen off hair on it. My scalp is even more visible.

Thankfully my hair hasn't become short or curly, as they are signs of male pattern baldness as you say, but they are losing pigment. Especially on the sides, where I am currently not losing hair.

 

[DerDon]

sorry to tell you but its male pattern baldness in 999 of 1000 cases. I doubt you are the lucky one. I thought i had Telogen Effluvium. My Dad and brother are not balding at all, hairloss started all over my head, huge amount of hair and some Dr. said its Telogen Effluvium. Couple of years later i tried everything and im still losing hair.
Don't hope on the Telogen Effluvium thing and read about things you can do agains male pattern baldness.

 

[whatintheworld]

Everyone thinks it is in the beginning. 99.999% of the time it isn't unfortunately.

 

[jazz1]

Post some pictures?

 

[Langsverd]

I got on minoxidil, and thankfully I've got new strands of hair north of an inch long. My scalp is also not so visible through the hair either. I quit minoxidil now after 4.5 months. So if I indeed had Telogen Effluvium, seems like it lasted couple months, given hair grows at about 1/2 inch a month.

Post some pictures?

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[shoegazing]

I got on minoxidil, and thankfully I've got new strands of hair north of an inch long. My scalp is also not so visible through the hair either. I quit minoxidil now after 4.5 months. So if I indeed had Telogen Effluvium, seems like it lasted couple months, given hair grows at about 1/2 inch a month.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

Did you quit minoxidil and maintained your gains?

 

[dudealpha]

I’ve been losing hair last months, on top. It’s pretty thin now. Can see my scalp. It arose after some harrowing emotional stress, and the advent of beginning an epileptic drug. But how can I know it’s telogen effluvium, and not just rapid regular thinning?

My maternal uncles are pretty thin on top. I am also considering the therapies for Telogen Effluvium listed here, though I have no idea whether they’re effective.

Telogen effluvium - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Did you go through a traumatic event? Are you dealing with a receding hairline or are you thinning all over?

 

[Langsverd]

Did you quit minoxidil and maintained your gains?

I quit just recently so dunno what the future will bring.

Did you go through a traumatic event? Are you dealing with a receding hairline or are you thinning all over?

Harrowing emotion stress after events yeah, some still lingering. The hairline is only slightly receding recently, so little it's hard to tell if it's just part of the general thinning. So. I was thinning on the top of the head, and then started minoxidil, I didn't notice thinning on the sides. Inches above my forehead, I could clearly see my scalp through the thinning hair. And I had so many hair strands on my pillow and sheets just looking there it was obvious I was loosing. Thankfully my pillow and sheets now don't have such hairs, and thankfully my scalp is less visible. I am just hoping it was Telogen Effluvium, and hoping the rapid hair loss won't come back now I'm off minoxidil.

 

[Selb]

My hair started falling out 4 months after minoxidil stoppage, so be careful.

 

[Here For the Lulz]

I can say with near complete certainty that this isn’t Telogen Effluvium. Let me explain where I’m coming from and if, at the end of this you still think you have Telogen Effluvium then you will have at least gone through the steps needed to justify that assessment.

Telogen Effluvium is what everyone thinks they have when they’re in the denial phase of their male pattern baldness experience. Have you had Major surgery, (on par with giving birth) 6 months prior to the start? Were you severely malnourished comparable to that of a starving child in a 90s Nat Geo magazine over the past year? Have you experienced EXTREME stress, (worse than anything prior and bad enough to make a perfect stranger feel sympathetic stress at the mere mention of it), 6 months prior to the loss? Did you have a legitimate brush with death and/or suffer a severe traumatic injury 6 months ago?

if the answer is yes to one or more then you might have Telogen Effluvium. In the landscape of male alopecia, Telogen Effluvium being the issue is exceptionally rare. Unless you can fully justify the conditions necessary and/or have a doctor confirm it, you’re just experiencing male pattern baldness and/or age related thinning that you will only make worse if you let it continue while you are in denial.

I know you mentioned a new medication, but unless you are experiencing severe side effects from the drug, (which would mean your body isn’t tolerating it well and could help point to Telogen Effluvium), and you started the drug over 6 months ago, then it’s unlikely to cause Telogen Effluvium. It also depends on whether hair loss is a possible side effect or not. Only a doctor could really assess that and there’s not much more I can do without knowing what it is and the when...

I hope you understand that I’m not trying to be harsh or pessimistic, but am trying to give you an answer that will best help you sort this out. Over the years, many, many people have posted something near identical to this and I can’t recall a single one that turned out to be Telogen Effluvium...

Ultimately, time is the only thing that can answer your question. Assuming the underlying trauma has been dealt with, if it grows back then it was Telogen Effluvium, if not then it wasn’t. The issue is whether or not you believe you can wait that long as it can take a full year for those follicles to hit the anogen phase and know one way or the other. About the only thing you can do right now is see a dermatologist as they are the best equipped to give you the information you seek. Best of luck.

 

[dudealpha]

I quit just recently so dunno what the future will bring.


Harrowing emotion stress after events yeah, some still lingering. The hairline is only slightly receding recently, so little it's hard to tell if it's just part of the general thinning. So. I was thinning on the top of the head, and then started minoxidil, I didn't notice thinning on the sides. Inches above my forehead, I could clearly see my scalp through the thinning hair. And I had so many hair strands on my pillow and sheets just looking there it was obvious I was loosing. Thankfully my pillow and sheets now don't have such hairs, and thankfully my scalp is less visible. I am just hoping it was Telogen Effluvium, and hoping the rapid hair loss won't come back now I'm off minoxidil.

It might be tellogen effluvium, it's hard to say. is there any sort of pattern forming if you put your head in direct light? Check the norwood scale and see if any of those match your thin pattern

 

[Langsverd]

Have you experienced EXTREME stress, (worse than anything prior and bad enough to make a perfect stranger feel sympathetic stress at the mere mention of it), 6 months prior to the loss? Did you have a legitimate brush with death

Yes.

I also have had what appeared to be Telogen Effluvium in 2010. I shed hair, and it grew back. That was following a drug reaction, and stress. I want to get to the bottom of this, so I'm hopefully not denying anything. I plan to measure hair loss once a year too, measure objectively, to see whether I need to get on finasteride.

Unless you can fully justify the conditions necessary (...) you’re just experiencing male pattern baldness and/or age related thinning

If it's either of them, it's age related thinning. But I thinned at such a pace three-four months ago, it was something out of the ordinary, and now there's not hair strands on the pillow or sheets no more. So there was a spurt that's halted, in the period I took minoxidil. Whether hair loss stopped because of minoxidil, I dunno.

I know you mentioned a new medication, but unless you are experiencing severe side effects from the drug, (which would mean your body isn’t tolerating it well and could help point to Telogen Effluvium), and you started the drug over 6 months ago, then it’s unlikely to cause Telogen Effluvium.

If it's the drug, I am unlucky. I am taking an epileptic drug that says my chances of hair loss side effects are: Uncommon (0.1% to 1%): Acne, alopecia (...).

I hope you understand that I’m not trying to be harsh or pessimistic (...) About the only thing you can do right now is see a dermatologist as they are the best equipped to give you the information you seek.

I understand you're trying to be realistic, and I thank you for it.

Covid and all, I had a video appointment with a dermatologist months ago, before I could see the new hair strands I posted. He said it was hard to tell, whether it's Telogen Effluvium. If it's the drug, he said it might come back months after cessation of therapy. If it's stress, it might come after the stress dealt with. If it's hereditary diffuse hair loss, well. He prescribed finasteride, so I'd have access at least. He really wasn't there to talk about my new hair loss (I just spent 3-4 minutes talking about it). He was answering my questions about a possible hair transplant.

Do you think on a face-to-face consultation with a dermatologist, he might have equipment to give a proper diagnosis? Perhaps miniturization would play a role in diagnosing. Dunno. I am at least, for the time being, not losing, but mayhaps I'll lose again now that I stopped using minoxidil.

It might be tellogen effluvium, it's hard to say. is there any sort of pattern forming if you put your head in direct light? Check the norwood scale and see if any of those match your thin pattern

I am 2.5 on the Norwood Scale. I have had slight (very slight) receding in the line from the front backwards towards the temple. Not the actual temple itself, but the front line. But it's so little it might be part of the general thinning.

 

[infamousrodi]

Covid infection and Telogen Effluvium seem to be correlated.

 

[Selb]

With telogen effluvium, the hair loss is usually concentrated at a well circumscribed area

Like a patch?

 

[shoegazing]

I've had T.E before and my whole scalp was affected plus my brows. It literally destroyed my sides, especially the right one. It's been two years already and I'm yet to recover completely. If it's possible to happen, that is.