Patchy Beard on Rogaine

[jackk]

I started Roagain 2.5 months ago (after being on Finateride for over 15 months).

About a month ago a strange thing happened - I developed a bald patch in my beard. It's about the size of a two pence coin. This has never happened before and I was just thinking today, maybe it could be related to the Rogaine use?

Any ideas? Cheers.

[PatientlyWaiting]

Could be Alopecia Areata. You should get it checked at the dermatologist.

[jackk]

Thanks. Yeah, it could be. Unfortunately it isn't easy to get seen by a dermatologist where I live (London) and from what I've been reading, there isn't much you can do for Alopecia Areata anyway.

I'm just wondering if it's possibly a side-effect of Rogaine? Seems strange.

[PatientlyWaiting]

I have AA. It was triggered by high stress levels. Do you get stressed out a lot?

I wasn't sure what caused it at first, I was blaming every thing. Then I did a little research and although doctors still don't know what exactly triggers it, the best theory they have is high stress. I was iffy about this until last year in December when a speech was due in class and I was one of the first one's picked to say my speech so I panicked and started stressing a LOT because of the work of all of my other classes. The same exact week, just a couple of days of finding out when my speech was due, a bald patch started developing in the back of my head and right there I realized that, at least my AA, is triggered by high levels of stress. The only thing I was taking at the time is finasteride.

What I can tell you is that you are predisposed to have Alopecia Areata and it just takes something to trigger it. If you do not have AA then nothing will trigger it or just cause it out nowhere. It's genetic I think.

[PatientlyWaiting]

This pretty much says exactly what I said:

What Causes It?

In alopecia areata, immune system cells called white blood cells attack the rapidly growing cells in the hair follicles. The affected hair follicles become small and drastically slow down hair production. Fortunately, the stem cells that continuously supply the follicle with new cells do not seem to be targeted. So the follicle always has the potential to regrow hair.

Scientists do not know exactly why the hair follicles undergo these changes, but they suspect that a combination of genes may predispose some people to the disease. In those who are genetically predisposed, some type of trigger—perhaps a virus or something in the person’s environment—brings on the attack against the hair follicles.

http://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/alopecia_areata/#2

I have two ointments, both prescribed, that may suppress AA enough to let hair grow back. One is called Clobetasol Propionate Ointment, and the other one is called Tacrolimus Ointment [as Protopic]. The protopic is for my vitiligo, another auto-immune system disease, which it did works and my vitiligo is no longer visible. But the derm told me that I can actually use protopic on my AA as well, though I never tried it. Clobetasol is for the AA, it really does suppress it. Worst scenario is the clobetasol just prevents it from getting worse, but it can regrow the hair. Both of the ointments are very strong, the protopic can thin the skin. I forgot all the "dangers" of these ointments but if you're going to try to get them make sure you do your research on them. The only way to get them unfortunately is through a prescription, I don't even see them anywhere in any online pharmacies.

[PatientlyWaiting]

Oh look at that, inhousepharmacies has clobetasol ointment.

I'm not sure if I can link this to you so I will just say the name so you can look for it, it's called Dermol Topical Cream 0.05%, Active Ingredient: Clobetasol propionate 0.05%. You should buy that ASAP, it should work really well on your beard, it's hard to regrow AA-lost hair on parts of your scalp affected by MPB. Which is why clobetasol works in the back of my head on my AA spot, but not on the one's on the top of my head.