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hey lamarr, what exactly does topical steiroids do for AA, and how does it work?
Topical steroids have both potent anti inflammatory and immunosupressive actions. The only problem with topical steroids at the moment is that they don't penetrate deep enough, so if your AA is severe enough they won't stop the shedding c ompletely (like me).
Kenalog shots will do a much better job as they obviously get deeper down. They already have steroids which are liposome encapsulated, but they need to be fine tuned as more of the drug is absorbed systemically.
so it is possible for my hairline to recover frome being really thing and ligth hairs to normal hairs without meds???
How long have you been shedding now? but yes it is possible.
how is everyone's hair loss coming along? i haven't been checking this for the last month or so. i'm trying to move on and all that.
have any of the original posters hair fully recovered? it's good to see farve's posts above mine, but what about andy, ithappens, and all the others?
i'm still losing hair (1 year 2 months post) and it still bothers me. my hair is still really thick so no reason to worry yet, but i don't want to be like the guy on the last page and 3 years from now wonder where my hair went. i'd also like to wash my hair everyday, but because of the dryness, lack of grease, and fear of the hair loss i can only really wash it every couple days. :\
Still shedding david, i have it somewhat under control with topical steroids and other anti inflammatories. I can reduce the shedding by about 60-80% with them. I don't know if Andy has all his hair back but he has definenetly stopped shedding and it was regrowing slowly. Gdwrite was the same, he was having alot of regrowth with rogain after the shedding had stopped. Ithappens isn't doing so hot, still sheds a bit and has no regrowth, dolph recovered pretty much fully (he was only on tane a month though which i'm sure you know).
I will fight this shit down to the ground, but i am probably just greatly delaying the inevitable. I still have many more bags of tricks though and as the months go by i feel like i can fight it better all the time. There is plenty you can do when you know the cause.
Are you sure you are still shedding more than normal David? This whole thing can in some cases be very subtle for a very long time mind you...
Same here David. Im trying my best to move on from this because its been 1 year and still shedding. My loss plateaued and shed around 35 hairs a day with slow regrowth. My biggest concern is miniaturizations but hopefully in due time it reverses itself.
How extensive is your guys hair loss? I don't know if I should still be worried because 35 hairs might be normal to some people.
my hair loss is a lot better than it was probably 6 months ago. i lose probably 10-20 in the shower. that really doesn't concern me so much, but when i comb my hair i probably lose another 50 atleast. this is usually after not washing my hair for 2 days, so i am sure that that has something to do with it. like i said earlier, my hair still looks good, but who knows in a few years, you know?
i recently found some pictures of my grandmother's side of the family and none of them were bald. every male on my dad's side still has thick hair into their 50's and my grandpa maintained his hair until his 50s. i hope i'm not the hair loss black sheep of the family. 
Guys i know it's hard to believe. But i would happily go bald right now if i could have the rest of my body back to normal. Sure hairloss is bad, but trust me hairloss alone means you have gotten off lightly.
Please if your hairloss has been going on for a long time and it is getting noticeable, get yourself on a topical steroid.
5 year olds use them twice a day constantly when they have alopecia areata. They cause little harm and can probably maintain your hair for aslong as you use them.
Good luck guys.
how is everyone's hair loss coming along? i haven't been checking this for the last month or so. i'm trying to move on and all that.
have any of the original posters hair fully recovered? it's good to see farve's posts above mine, but what about andy, ithappens, and all the others?
i'm still losing hair (1 year 2 months post) and it still bothers me. my hair is still really thick so no reason to worry yet, but i don't want to be like the guy on the last page and 3 years from now wonder where my hair went. i'd also like to wash my hair everyday, but because of the dryness, lack of grease, and fear of the hair loss i can only really wash it every couple days. :\
So you saying that you're hair is dry and not all greasy when you wake up? My hair is very greasy when I wake up hmmm.
I have the opposite problem. I have to wash my hair every morning before so or else my hair would be all over the place and just oily/greasy.
Ok, so I went to my derm today and we "chatted." Or maybe it was more like "bullshitted." For those of you who didn't know, I took tane for two weeks the beginning of January, but I stopped because my hair straightened out, thinned out, and was falling out. I brought this up to my derm two weeks ago when I last visited and he dodged my questions.
I brought up the issue of my hair loss again (he didnt remember me), and he said "Well, as long as you are taking accutane you may continue to lose your hair..." Then I looked at him and said, "No I'm still losing it three months later." He had this dumb look on his face and said he had never heard of anyone losing their hair from accutane, and I was the first one. Lie. He then proceeded to say that maybe something else underlying was causing the hair loss. I told him that wasn't the case, but he insisted on something about my thyroid and metabolism...? At this point I clearly saw what was going on, and I got pissed off. It was clear he was trying to just pull stuff out of his ass, and cover himself. He then brought up steroid injections if things do not get better, which got me to wondering...I thought you had never heard of this problem...?
The next part is the best. He then leaves the room with his nurse to go "talk to someone who might be familiar with this." A couple minutes later he came back and said that he had talked to another one of the doctors and they had told him "it might be a year or so until it stops, so keep an eye on it." What a joke, I figured it was a waste of money going back today. Turns out I was right. I've learned twice as much reading through this damn thread then I ever will being in a dermatologist's office again. Here's to hoping I'll be able to have thick, curly hair again some time in the relatively near future. Good luck everybody. I'll keep yall posted.
sorry to hear that superman. i know this sounds strange but your derm probably was not lying about not having any cases. derms right now just aren't aware of this! many have next to no knowledge and some have little yet useless knoledge. i would not be so angry with hiim though, considering there is not much he can really do anyways besides prescribe you topical steiroids. topical steiroids and especially shots prove to be very effective for tane hairloss. your doctor is at least offering amd that is a blessing. my derm will not offer me any steroids!! i am just supposed to wait...
sorry to hear that superman. i know this sounds strange but your derm probably was not lying about not having any cases. derms right now just aren't aware of this! many have next to no knowledge and some have little yet useless knoledge. i would not be so angry with hiim though, considering there is not much he can really do anyways besides prescribe you topical steiroids. topical steiroids and especially shots prove to be very effective for tane hairloss. your doctor is at least offering amd that is a blessing. my derm will not offer me any steroids!! i am just supposed to wait...
I hear ya bro. If there's nothing he can do, there's nothing he can do. It's just the way that he plays it off. As is the case with a lot of people on this board, I know twice as much about accutane compared to my derm. It really shouldn't be that way, and I shouldn't have to filter out the medical politics.
He knows what you have buddy, he just doesn't wanna break it to you. Do you really think he would offer you kenalog shots if you didn't have Alopecia areata? Personally i would take them ASAP. I mean for aslong as you have them, you will keep your hair and regrow most of what you have lost. Witht he shots, you can get them every 6 weeks and just forget about this problem!!
you know that weird burning sensasion on the scalp...
i have it now.. great.. i was hoping i had TE..
and with that my hair is just falling to pieces..
i think im just going to shave my head..
this sucks, i wish it didn't make me so depressed but damn..
i guess i could try topical steiroids, my derm said he would give me some if it really persisted, but what will that really do in the long run..
i am starting to lose hope kinda like ithappens, haha even though i have identified the futility of stressing over this... geeesh...
good luck to the rest of ya, we just can't win... can we?
Kenalog can cause you horrible side effects. be very careful. read this link.
[Edited link out]
some people have got big crates where they injected this. for one woman it ate up her muscles on the elbow. One woman could put her fist in a big hole on her buttcheek where she had a kenalog shot.
there are stories very people took it for alopeci aereta o the scalp and got a big bald scar on the top of the scalp.
mickeee said:Kenalog can cause you horrible side effects. be very careful. read this link.[Edited link out]
some people have got big crates where they injected this. for one woman it ate up her muscles on the elbow. One woman could put her fist in a big hole on her buttcheek where she had a kenalog shot.
there are stories very people took it for alopeci aereta o the scalp and got a big bald scar on the top of the scalp.
i hate medication...
ugh.
The risk of "big crates" from the kenalog shots is the resason chu has given me the topical. I know for sure with the use of the topical steroids my hair is going to last so much longer than it would have... For some people it will probably stop the shedding completely, you have to remember my shedding is severe when i stop these (200-300 region). So i'm sure for some of you it can stop the shedding completely.
Yeah guys it sucks but you slowly come to terms with these things, we have no other choice. As i said before i would take a bald head ina heart beat if i could fix everything else. If you have a good shape head, go shave your hair off, get a tan and hit the gym.
If you don't look into a hair system, i know it ain't the best thing to be using at our age. But fuck it modern technology took our hair away, so modern technology can help in fixing the problem.
I am a sucker for wallowing myself, but it does you no good, look for solutions, treatments, whatever. Just don't wallow.
There will be shit to treate this better within the next 5 years or so. So why not use a topical steroid while you are waiting? Fuck you may even get lucky and it resolve if your using the topical and your hairloss is confined to your scalp!!
Chin up guys, it can always be so much worse Someone in this thread once said, be happy that we are in a position that hairloss is actually a concern.
Ruthless when you say patchy, are there patchy bald spots? Do you shed from your entire scalp or just these patchy areas? How long have you been off tane or are you still on it?
Try not to worry to much most girls fare much better than guys with this hairloss, especially at your age, you still have very good estrogen levels!!
wow depressing stuff on here reminds me of myself with my posts. anyway, the only light of hope of i can offer anyone is that there a sulfer based drug which has been shown to help certain alopecia areata patients. turns down inflamatory tcells etc. Anyway, im not touching it though just too many sides to the unknown. I've been hit with this pretty hard considering the back of my scalp has started diffusing away and is at the point where i can see hair through it etc. I remember when people on the board used to tell me I had MPB and I would get pissed etc. Ha at this point I wish it was all it was MPB. At least with MPB it takes years before you lose all your hair, and you can just get a system and move on. my sides are pretty much all i have left at this point. If I wouldn't have had a such thick hair to begin with i would be very much bald right now etc, but yea my problem has mainly been the lack of regrowth and texture change. fyi i still can get by with thickening shampoo and concealer wearing a hat most of the time etc. Im holding out on the topical steroid because it gave me a huge shed last time and irritated my scalp. anyway, if you're losing 25-30 hairs a day and still have a decent amount, mainly thick hair on the sides and back dont worry too much. modern hair systems are really great if you get it from the right place and all. I was already consulted and fitted for one etc, but with my back hair diffusing away its gonna be pointless cause i may be able to pull it off for a year tops. What sucks for me is my head is big with a bump on the back. it doesnt look good buzzed or bald etc. i think the key with this stuff is whether it's permanent or not is you have to drop accutane right when the loss starts. my problem was i had minimal loss after the first couple months and still finished the treatment. also, i was only on 40mg throughout most of the course i believe in the near future doctors will start to prescribe lower doses, ie, 10-20mg courses just as they used to prescribe crazy 120mg courses years ago. im convinced that if i had stayed on 20mg my hair loss would have been a non issue, but i listened to my derm. fyi, ask any real true doctor surgeon neuro etc what the biggest joke medical field is and one of them is well there's doctors and there's derms.
there are a treatment called Topical Immunotherapy. it seems to be very effective for patients with AA
http://www.dermatology.org/skintherapy/stl0106.html
but offcourse it have side effects.
Blazed i remember your shedding was greatly reduced by the topical steroids. Why do you say they had no affect?
My main hope is that this shit does become less agressive with time, even if it doesn't stop. Most long term victims say the first 18 months are the worst. Then it doesn't progress anywhere near as fast. So i hope that when i get to around that point in time, the topical steroids can stop the shedding completely and i can keep most of what i have.
Btw, the combination of minoxidil and topical steroid is REALLY good. I am convinced nearly all of us can regrow most of the hair in the areas we use this combo. I have been using half doses with really good results. Just remember you have to stick to this shit, it takes months for real results from the steroid OR the minox.