Highly accelerated baldness from waterfall impact at a hillstation

[baldBeyondNorwood]

I was thinning but not this bald until 3 years ago when I stood under a waterfall at a hillstation like an idiot. After that incident, I became bald like in the picture over a period of 6 months and it has continued to worsen even after. I can never forgive myself for being so stupid.

[Blake Bloxham]

Beyond,

 

You think that the waterfall caused your hair loss? Unless there were some type of very odd chemicals mixed in that water (did you experience any other illness or symptoms?), I'd bet that this is completely coincidental. I apologize if I'm misinterpreting.

[Sigildark]

pure coincidence

[mattj]

It does seem likely that it is just coincidence.

[MusoInOz]

Very doubtful the waterfall caused it mate.

I remember thinking back to when my hair first started falling out and blaming the new wax I had started using. Obviously it was not the cause.

 

Mike

[Spanker]

That did not cause your hair loss. Your genetic predisposition to your follilces being sensitive to DHT did.

[Dutch]

The waterfall couldn't of caused that. Unless it had acid/ grafts poison in it.

[baldBeyondNorwood]

Thanks for the replies. I would actually be relieved of my depressing guilt if I can believe that it was a coincidence and that I did not cause it due to my foolishness standing under the waterfall. But how could forceful water falling from such a height not have an adverse impact on the scalp made of muscle and skin? It causes deep canyons in the rock afterall. If traction alopecia is possible from sustained pull then accelerated baldness from sudden heavy impact should also be possible, no? I'm not saying it caused the baldness all by itself, just that it brought forth in 6 months time what should have happened over 60 years time.

[mattj]

Your bathroom shower would erode the floor if it was running constantly for a long time.

 

Even traction alopecia takes time as sustained pulling damages the follicles.

 

For every hairloss sufferer there is a point in time when they first notice that they have lost hair. Generally that time will coincide with something that might seem reasonable to blame for triggering it.

 

Just out of interest, how high was the waterfall and what did it feel like when the water hit you? Please think and answer honestly.

[baldBeyondNorwood]

Just out of interest, how high was the waterfall and what did it feel like when the water hit you? Please think and answer honestly.

 

This was that waterfall, it seems about 50 feet high. I clearly remember how it felt. Waterfall was copious and forceful, thumping down, could easily knock down someone with small frame. It was painful on the head atleast at the start. And then more thumping, thumping, overshadowing the pain. I seemed to foolishly think that it might stimulate the hair growth and continued to stand there for several minutes. Others were bearing the waterfall on their shoulders and backs and their hands-covered heads, but I stood with an unprotected head like someone possessed.

Edited June 21, 2011 by baldBeyondNorwood

[hairthere]

"I seemed to foolishly think that it might stimulate the hair growth and continued to stand there for several minutes"

 

So you were already experiencing hairloss? Look, a waterfall didn't cause this, it's classic MPB.

[baldBeyondNorwood]

Yes I said in my first post itself my hair was thinning even back then, but there are different levels of baldness right? I was totally totally done only after the incident.

[hairthere]

MPB can accelerate very quickly and it is unpredictable. Mine happened seemingly overnight when I turned 31. The waterfall incident is likely a coincidence. Perhaps it knocked a few hairs out, but it certainly didn't was the cause of your hairloss.

[Blake Bloxham]

Yes I said in my first post itself my hair was thinning even back then, but there are different levels of baldness right? I was totally totally done only after the incident.

 

BaldBeyond,

 

In your initial post, you said that you reached your current level of baldness after 6 months. This means that your hair loss progressed from before the waterfall incident and continued for the next 6 months afterward.

 

Like others are stating, the waterfall incident was a complete coincidence (this is absolutely not associated with any type of hair loss) and you're likely suffering from male pattern baldness.

 

Just to address a few other points brought up:

 

1. Waterfalls erode rocks over millions of years. Comparing the process of eroding a rock with removing hair follicles by standing under the waterfall (while probably moving) for a few minutes simply makes no sense.

 

2. Traction alopecia also takes a very long period of traction and wouldn't result in typical patterns of male pattern baldness. If you'd like to see some classical examples of true traction alopecia, look at certain women who pull their hair back too tightly (sometimes in conjunction with 'hair extensions) for 20 years, or religious individuals who wear hair wraps for a significant portion of their lives.

 

Altogether, I think you can officially release yourself from this guilt as the waterfall incident simply isn't associated with your hair loss.

[baldBeyondNorwood]

Future_HT_Doc,

Almost got convinced by your reply but doubts have resurfaced again. I agree with you that hair follicles just can't be washed away so suddenly. But what about the muscles underneath the skin? They are the source of nourishment for the follicles. The waterfall impact could have displaced these muscles or created a momentum in them to get torn and displaced over time, so the follicles could have suffered a slow death.

[Blake Bloxham]

Beyond,

 

I'm sorry to hear that you're still having anxiety about this issue. I do assure you that the waterfall incident had nothing to do with your hair loss, but let me see if I can answer a few of your most recent questions and further alleviate your guilt.

 

First, muscles don't nourish hair follicles, your blood vessels are responsible for bringing oxygen and other nutrients to the follicles and this is the mechanism behind therapies like minoxidil (Rogaine). I think we can both agree that because you aren't experiencing any other sort of necrosis and you did not have any swelling or bleeding during the incident, you didn't damage any blood vessels, therefore you didn't damage the hair follicle nutrient supply.

 

Additionally, there are only two muscles that are even (vaguely) associated with the scalp - the frontalis and the occipital muscle, and these play far less of a role in the scalp and damage to these would have far more noticeable effects and wouldn't be affected by a waterfall.

 

I hope this helps. However, because you are still having some issues with anxiety and this issue, I recommend scheduling an appointment with a personal physician and receiving the same information from a health provider you know and trust.

 

Good luck!

[rich91403]

Dear BB,

 

Football players and UFC fighters sustain many forceful impacts concentrated on their head. The training rooms have not really reported any loss of hair from the repetitive trauma sustained by these athletes from their training or competition. Hair follicles are pretty hardy entities. Just look at hair transplant procedures where they are cut away from their host (home environment, blood and nerve supply), Dissected further, kept in a saline dish before being grasped by a forcep and placed back into the host. They survive all this and they flourish beautifully.

 

BB, just consider that the hair you suspected was damaged by the waterfall is only in the male pattern area. You did not suffer any other injury (ecchymosis, bruising, concussion etc). It is very doubtful the water cascading down upon your head has inflicted any adverse situation to your hair.

 

I hope you are not blaming yourself or feel any sense of responsibility about the perceived self inflicted baldness. It looks like a classic case of androgenic alopecia that many of us on this site have been affected by this same condition.

 

If you address your hair loss situation medically, I encourage you to go enjoy the beautiful water falls again without any further worry about an adverse reaction.

You have a very common condition that many of us share with you. Please free yourself of any responsibility that you brought this on.

Respectfully,

Rich

[baldBeyondNorwood]

Thanks a lot for the replies. Now I'm convinced that the waterfall did not cause the accelerated baldness. In addition to agreeing with your replies, a thought also appeared in my mind that there was no pain in the scalp whatsoever after the waterfall incident, so it couldn't have caused the damage.

There is one other incident which I have been blaming for starting my hairloss several years before the waterfall incident. I shall make a post about it soon in a separate thread.

[hairthere]

"There is one other incident which I have been blaming for starting my hairloss several years before the waterfall incident."

 

Are you serious? Listen, I'm not sure why you're so hellbent on blaming your hairloss on a particular "incident." Everyone will tell you that hairloss is caused by either a genetic predisposition or traction alopecia (which takes a long time and is not caused by one accident).

[mahhong]

I agree with most of the other people here; no 'incident' would cause the hairloss you experienced.

 

Your head and hair goes through a huge amount in your lifetime. Think of how many times you wash your hair, lie on a pillow and pull your hair, have it blown in the wind or submerged in water, run your hands through your hair, pull or have your hair pulled etc etc.

 

Your photos show classic MPB and it's not uncommon to have it appear in the space of weeks or months in some cases. No specific incident would have causes such widespread hairloss in such a classic pattern other that your genetics. None of the incidents you have mentioned would have had any real effect in "helping" the hairloss along either - this was just the way your body was made and unfortunately that's that.

 

It's common to try and link a negative phenomena with some sort of specific incident or personal blame - but this isn't your fault or the fault of anything else, so relax. This was always going to happen and nothing short of medication could or would have prevented it.

 

The big question now is where you from this point. Relax and look at your options; you do have some. And don't blame and stress yourself over it. It'd take a gigantic amount of stress or trauma to eradicate your hair and a waterfall wouldn't do it.