Shedding stubble sized hairs 1 mm- 1 cm.

[CharlotteMike]

Hi everyone,

 

I am a 24 year old male. I have been on propecia 1 year ( thinning on crown). Nothing grew back, but it didn't get worse. ( at least i think). I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism from Hashimotos disease 7 weeks ago. I was put on 50mcgs of snythroid. I have heard horror stories of hair loss from synthroid. My gf and I clogged the shower drain last week, the hair i shed then stayed on the floor of the shower and didn't go down the drain. I noticed 70-90 "stubble sized hairs" and 20-40 regular length hairs. I am worried it's from the the synthroid, although my hair looks the same it did 7 weeks ago. worse case scenerio- the synthroid is making my hair fall out, and once a long hair falls out, it wont grow back long but will shed like a very small stubble hair. The thing is , when we fixed the drain, I didn't notice any hair left on the shower floor. So i don't know if this is something new, or caused by my synthroid. I did however I put a paper towel over the shower drain, and saw the same amount of stubble hairs as the other shed "70-90" a couple days later. i'm not sure if the stubble shedding happened before me getting on synthroid, or if the synthroid is currently causing by it! So in the long run, i'm not sure if my thinning was due to MPB or my thyroid disorder. Should I be worried? any advice would be appreciated! The stubble hair just freaked me out!

[Postdoc]

Sorry to hear that you've been diagnosed with hypothyroidism. As you probably know, both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are associated with a speed up of the conversion of testosterone to DHT, so hair loss in both conditions can be a problem but isn't inevitable. The pattern of hair loss tends to be different in the two conditions, so hypothyroidism is more associated with loss of body hair and, strangely, the lateral third of the eyebrows, and hyperthyroidism with diffuse thinning. As you're already taking finasteride this should hopefully be somewhat protective. The other key thing is to get the dose of thyroid hormone replacement right. 50 mcg sounds a good starting dose but you need to make sure your family doctor is keeping a close eye on your thyroid function tests.

 

Regards,

David (Postdoc)

[CharlotteMike]

thanks for the reply. can Hypo not be diffuse thinning too? I believe that's what my dr said I had on the crown. THe real question is it MPB or thyroid. EIther way, what do you think about the small stubble sized shedding? Reason to worry? I am hoping it is the propecia replacing small hairs with thicker ones, but i'm really thinking it has to do with my thyroid problem/medicine. Can propecia shed at 1 year? or really any time? I know shedding is common in the first few months. I'm year 1. Again, i never really paid attention to my sheds, and never really had a bad one. The small stubble hairs just went down the sink, and if it happened before i began synthroid, i would not have known.

[Postdoc]

I think diffuse thinning is more common in women who are hypothyroid but it's difficult to be certain. I'm inclined to think that the stubble sized shedding is more likely to be associated with the hypothyroidism as that when untreated does lead to brittle hair that breaks off easily. I doubt that it's anything to do with shedding due to the finasteride if you've been on that for a year.

 

Regards,

David (Postdoc)