Hello im a 18 year old male. About 6 months ago after 1 year of bad nutrition, greasy hair, and sustained depression/stress i started shedding rapidly. I didnt wash my hair for 3-4 weeks, before then my hair was normal, after that hundreds/thousands of hairs came out, (actually around that time i noticed many hairs on my pillow etc.) it was like a sea of black hairs being washed down the drain. after that i came downstairs and my relatives noticed my hair loss. that was 6 months ago. my hair has gotten worse since slightly but it has stopped falling out so much (it stopped falling out about 3 months ago, now its normal, i dont see hairs on my pillow or in the shower)
right now i also have noticed big white hairs in the affected areas, this may be a sign of regrowth? it looks like telogen effluvium or mpb. one of my doctors said its stress related another said it may be genetic.

whats confusing me is, mpb is when the hairs thin out gradually (typically) but when hairs dont actually fall out but grow thinner and thinner (miniturization) but this never happened to me. also my hair loss is very rapid (a few days or 1-2 weeks i may notice a significant change.

The key to suspecting MPB is 'pattern'. Some atypical MPB patterns might initially appear to be another condition, particularly if some areas (like the frontal island) are being spared. If it's a standard Norwod-scale pattern, diagnosis may be quite simple. If the loss is occurring uniformly throughout the scalp, is highly sporadic, is occurring in patchy regions or is accompanied by other skin changes, another condition might be suspected.

What kind of doctor said 'stress' and which said genetic (I'm assuming this means MPB)? Were either specialists?

There's really no way anyone here can tell you anything about your specific condition that your doctors can't. You need to get a firm diagnosis, preferably from a dermatologist.



No, that's not how miniaturization works. Hair grows in cycles (for everyone). It grows, falls out, goes through a rest period, then returns. In people without MPB, you don't see bald areas because there are always follicles replacing those which are going into dormancy.

In MPB, the hair goes through the same process, but is slightly diminished in quality each time the hair returns. It falls out, goes through a rest phase and comes back slightly thinner and/or less pigmented. After enough of such cycles, the hair is so tiny and lacking in pigmentation it can barely be seen. When enough follicles do this, it no longer contributes to coverage of the area and you have a bald area.

both doctors were quite senior. i also went to a trichologist (the only person that actually inspected my hair) and she said it was hair loss due to stress/possible dermatisis, but she said its not mpb because of the texture.

there is no real pattern. i dont have a receding hair line. i just lost alot of volume from the top of my head, the only pattern is at the front middle of my head it is alittle more denser but that is getting worse also it seems. i cant take pics (too shy) but i looked at another posters thread and my hair loss looks nearly identical to his: (scroll down where he posts pics)

http://www.hairlosshelp.com/FO...R_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear