The psychological effects of androgenetic alopecia in men.

BACKGROUND: Despite the prevalence of androgenetic alopecia among men, little is known about its psychological effects. OBJECTIVE: This investigation examined the psychosocial sequelae that balding men attribute to hair loss and compared balding and nonbalding men in personality functioning. METHODS: Subjects included 63 men with modest balding, 40 men with more extensive balding, and 42 nonbalding controls. All anonymously completed a battery of standardized psychological measures. RESULTS: Reported effects of balding reflected considerable preoccupation, moderate stress or distress, and copious coping efforts. These effects were especially salient among men with more extensive balding and among younger men, single men, and those with an earlier hair-loss onset. Relative to controls, balding men had less body-image satisfaction yet were comparable on other personality indexes. Personality correlates of the psychological responses to hair loss were identified. CONCLUSION: Although most men regard hair loss to be an unwanted, distressing experience that diminishes their body image, balding men actively cope and generally retain the integrity of their personality functioning.

Anticancer chemotherapy accelerates scalp hair loss with no androgenic involvement.

The involvement of plasma testosterone in patients associated with scalp hair loss accelerated by anticancer drugs including aclarubicin and cisplatin was investigated. Scalp hair loss observed was minor in 12 and severe in 2 out of 31 patients. In patients without significant hair loss, the combination of aclarubicin and cisplatin produced a significant decrease in the plasma testosterone concentration in male patients and a significant increase in female patients 3 days after the anticancer chemotherapy. Six days after the chemotherapy, however, these concentrations returned to pretreatment values. Similar changes were observed in patients with minor or severe scalp hair loss induced by these drugs. These results suggest that aclarubicin and/or cisplatin may accelerate scalp hair loss with no androgenic involvement.

Pulsed electrostatic fields (ETG) to reduce hair loss in women undergoing chemotherapy for breast carcinoma: a pilot study.

AIMS: To determine whether specific pulsed electrostatic fields, or electrotrichogenesis (ETG), could potentially prevent or reduce hair loss in patients undergoing adjuvant cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (CMF) chemotherapy for breast cancer.METHODS: Thirteen women were followed during their adjuvant ETG and chemotherapy treatment to determine the efficacy of ETG. All patients were treated for 12 min, twice weekly with a pulsed electrostatic field. Quantitative hair loss was measured by photographic assessment, and manual hair count. Quality of life assessment was conducted at the end of the study.RESULTS: Twelve out of 13 participants had good hair retention throughout the chemotherapy period and afterwards. There were no reported side effects attributable to ETG.CONCLUSIONS: This study shows encouraging results in an area where no other appropriate treatment is available Reducing alopecia, secondary to chemotherapy has the potential to increase CMF treatment compliance, enhance patient self-esteem, and improve overall quality of life during this stressful period.

Can alopecia areata be triggered by emotional stress? An uncontrolled evaluation of 178 patients with extensive hair loss.

One hundred and seventy-eight patients with severe alopecia areata were asked at interview whether they attributed their first attack of hair loss to an emotional trauma. Twelve patients (6.7%) reported a severely disturbing event during the 6 months preceding the first symptoms of their disease. No patient reported that episodes of hair loss coincided with stressful life events. Emotional triggers were not especially correlated with any particular type of alopecia areata. The present study does not therefore provide evidence of a significant role of emotional stress in the pathogenesis of alopecia areata.