Hi guys,

It was bought to my attention recently that people can loose hair due to stress causing restricted blood flow to the scalp. Is this right?.
This has implications for hair transplanting as hair placed in these regions would eventually die due to poor blood circulation . Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cap

I don't want to sound harsh but this is baloney. EVERYONE is under stress. Stress does not cause baldness, it is genetic.

If stress was one of the causes of hairloss I'd look like the cat from Austin Powers, Mr. Bittersworth. NO BODY HAIR!!

Peace,
Jotronic

Carpe Capillus!!
www.jotowen.com

Hello Cap,
Where did you hear that? I lost some of my transplants in the center of my head shortly after they grew. I am still not sure what happened. It kind of looked like they died. Oh, and I have been under lots of stress. My dermatologist said it looks like I got telogen effluvium, a hair loss condition brought on by metabolic or hormonal stress. I hope it grows back. I am still loosing alot of hair transplants and other hair(about 200+ hairs/day).
Purpella

It's Mr BIGGLESWORTH, isn't it?

"Come, Mr Bigglesworth!"

Surely...

Man - what an ugly cat.

HarryLemon

As a psychologist, I think I would have learned something about this among the many things I've read, studied and seen first-hand related to stress and distress.

Stress will do many bad things to you over a prolonged period of time (not ulcers - another oft repeated myth), but I don't know of any evidence that stress is a significant factor in hairloss.

Hey, if stess does cause hairloss, try Klonipin to grow your hair back (LOL). I've never seen Valium, Librium, Xanax, Ativan, Buspar, Paxil or clonazepam grow hair on anyone's head, but I've seen them really take the edge off of stress.

Eh, if you must worry, worry about something else.

But only insofar as we're talking SPEED of hairloss, not the general propensity for it.

I am no doctor and cannot say for sure, but I do know this much -- high levels of stress DO cause increased levels of a hormone called cortisol in your bloodstream. Cortisol is a kind of long-acting adrenyline; adrenyline is short-acting "get you out of immediate danger" flight-or-fight response stuff. Cortisol is "stay alert awhile till the danger passes" juice.

Normally it breaks down in the bloodstream RELATIVELY quickly, I believe after a few hours. But if you're stressed for long periods you get this junk in your blood more or less constantly and it DOES adversely affect your system. Hair? I have no idea. But it affects your heart, increases your chances of getting certain cancers and so forth. It's only reasonable to assume it COULD accelerate hairloss, if not directly then vis-a-vis circulation, which it DOES affect.

This is all a bunch of mishmash, though. You have to look up the facts on cortisol yourself. Everything I've said specifically here could be wrong. But cortisol IS a result of stress and it's baaad to have over too much time.

If not for your hair, for your health in general, man, relieve that stress. It's a killer.

Pic

Your comments are not a mishmash. You are right on target. Stress does cause the release of cortisol which is related to the fight or flight response. Cortisol is the body's own version of cortisone, a synthetic hormone that can aid in healing or, at least, mitigate the severity of certain conditions. Initially, it can have positive effects, but as cortisol or cortisone levels remain elevated over time, damage results in a number of ways.

It is interesting that I have read about compounds that include topical cortisone to promote hair regrowth, although these have been criticized because of the potential damage to the scalp tissue and presumably hair regrowth with long-term use.

Recently, cortisol has been shown to destroy neurons in an area of the brain associated with feelings of well-being. The warning here is that prolonged stress and anxiety can lead to depression, or at least, loss of ability to experience pleasure. I am not sure, but I believe cortisol may be one of the factors in heart disease. The recent use of blood testing involving measurements of arterial inflamtion offer a tantalizing link to stress and cortisol. Applied topically to the skin, cortisone is damaging to the skin in the long-term, although it can be a wonder drug in the short-term for clearing up inflamtions.

Cortisone injections are sometimes given to knock out severe allergic responses that are not responding to other treatments. If you have ever had such an injection (as I have) you notice that after about 24 hours you feel absolutely great - mentally and physically. Day four or so you crash and can feel pretty lousy. If you keep getting the injections your face swells (remember Gary Coleman the actor - result of cortisone use). This is true of chronic use of Prednisone, the orally administered version of the hormone.

So, Pic, you're right in the ballpark on this one. It's just that I have not seen any research evidence related to hairloss as a byproduct of stress and cortisol release. I bet that some physicians speculate that sudden hairloss, particularly if it is diffuse loss, might be related to stress, but I believe this is speculation only. One would expect that the loss would be more diffuse and less in the horseshoe pattern if cortisol causes hair loss.

Also, as Jotronic noted, one would expect hair loss to be truly diffuse - all over the body - if stress causes hairloss.

Finally, I'd reiterate from my earlier post: the medications that reduce stress don't seem to prevent hair loss or restore hair. The talk of blood flow and it's role in hair loss ignores the known mechanisms inovlving genetically programmed responses to DHT that are known to accutally account for MPB. That's why the effective hair loss prevention drugs involve reduction of systemic levels of DHT, or locally act to block DHT at receptor sites.

Again, don't fret over this one too much. You don't want those cortisol levels rising too much. You might keep your hair, but get very depressed.