17 year old daughter lost half her hair

[Anonymous]

My 17 year old daughter has lost half her hair. It is diffuse, meaning that it has shed evenly.

But because 50% is gone we can see her scalp and it’s very thin.

We went for a full check up and she has no deficiencies. Nothing wrong with thyroid or her body etc.

Has this happened to someone you know at this age? What could it be?
Is it common for doctors to miss something here?

[Anonymous]

That is it normal. Get a second opinion and a fuller test panel.

[Anonymous]

is she obsessively pulling it out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is it normal. Get a second opinion and a fuller test panel.

+1

See dermatologist

[Anonymous]

Something like this happened to me. I had too much testosterone or something. Hormone imbalance. It was earlier tho like 13/14. It evened out and I have plenty of hair. Ask to do some other panels.

[Anonymous]

Has she seen a dermatologist about this? Could be alopecia or an autoimmune disorder...? I'm sorry she's going through this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is it normal. Get a second opinion and a fuller test panel.

+1

See dermatologist

DD has similar issue. In our case, the dermatalogist looked at her for less than a minute and had no suggestions.

[Anonymous]

This happened to my husband when he was a teen, and it was due to nutritional deficiencies and exposure to heavy secondhand smoke.
Changed those, hair returned.

[Anonymous]

Alopecia? Friend has it and lost about 75% of her hair in her late teens.

[Anonymous]

Her doctor should be pushing for more bloodwork. Surely they didn't just shrug their shoulders, right???

[Anonymous]

Did you get a full autoimmune panel? Full thyroid panel including T3, T4, TPO, and TgAb, not just TSH? Tests for PCOS?

If you can't convince doctors to order more tests, you can order them yourself at Ulta Labs.

Different issue, but my daughter had autoimmune thyroid symptoms for more than 3 years before we got a diagnosis. Her pediatrician was convinced she had an eating disorder and refused to run a full panel of tests. It took years even to find the right doctors to figure out the right tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Her doctor should be pushing for more bloodwork. Surely they didn't just shrug their shoulders, right???

Im the OP. Thanks for all the replies. We have gone to 3 doctors and they all shrugged their shoulders.

My teen is irritated and has outbursts everyday. Her grades have gone down and she won’t leave the house unless it’s school.

She’s not pulling it out. Her iron came back low but they said it is still normal.

[Anonymous]

irritated and has outbursts everyday

Did this develop suddenly after an infection? What preceded the hair loss and mood symptoms? Agree you should look further into autoimmune and thyroid issues - TSH can look normal even if there is thyroid disease.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Her doctor should be pushing for more bloodwork. Surely they didn't just shrug their shoulders, right???

Im the OP. Thanks for all the replies. We have gone to 3 doctors and they all shrugged their shoulders.

My teen is irritated and has outbursts everyday. Her grades have gone down and she won’t leave the house unless it’s school.

She’s not pulling it out. Her iron came back low but they said it is still normal.

I'm so sorry. You need to persevere, OP. Poor kid.

[Anonymous]

My guess is alopecia or a hormonal imbalance. When I had my hysterectomy half of my hair fell out. It did come back later, though.