Hair Loss

Dr Proctor’s coments on Stroke and uric acid

Radiation-induced temporary alopecia after embolization of cerebral aneurysms
Nuria Marti, et al, Dermatology Online Journal 14 (7): 19

Abstract
A 29-year-old woman underwent 2 endovascular procedures for treatment of bilateral carotid-ophthalmic artery aneurysms. After each treatment, transient alopecia occurred over the occipital area and is presumed to be radiation induced.

Figure 1. Hair loss over her occipital area 2 months after initial embolization (A) and hair regrowth 1 year after the second embolization (B) Endovascular procedures have become widely used for the treatment of vascular lesions in the brain or spinal cord and their surrounding tissues. Radiation-induced adverse effects of endovascular procedures are seldom mentioned in the literature. Transient alopecia following a therapeutic embolization is a very rare complication [1, 2, 3, 4].

A 29-year-old woman was diagnosed with aneurysms of both carotid-opthalmic arteries. This patient had severe headache, but she was alert and oriented and without neurologic deficits. Her hair appeared normal.

The patient underwent two courses of embolization of the aneurysms with an interval of 3 months between courses. No neurologic deficits occurred after these procedures. However, hair loss over her occipital area was noted 2 weeks after the initial embolization. Physical examination revealed a 13 x 10 cm square patch of almost total hair loss on the occipital region.

The scalp was normal, exclamation-mark hairs were not visible; results of the pull test were normal. Her bilateral occipital and superficial temporal arteries had good pulses. A cutaneous biopsy was not performed because of the anticoagulant treatment of the patient. The hair regrew but 2 weeks after the second embolization, that was performed 3 months later, she again experienced the appearance of a similar patch of diffuse hair loss on the occipital scalp. The hair regrew 4 months after the occurrence of hair loss without treatment.

This patient underwent several angiographic examinations without side effects but alopecia appeared soon after the 2 courses of embolization. Hair loss due to arterial occlusion was considered unlikely. Radiation-induced hair loss was considered as the main cause for the hair loss in this patient. The estimated radiation exposure dose was more than 3 Gy.

J Exp Med. 1942;75:277

SYNTHESIS OF INOSITOL IN MICE.
Woolley DW.

It has been shown that mice are able to synthesize inositol. This synthesis was not observed when pantothenic acid (reported to stimulate hair regrowth ) was absent from the diet. Cultures from the intestinal tract of animals which exhibited spontaneous cure of alopecia (hair loss ) yielded microorganisms which synthesized much more inositol than did organisms isolated in the same fashion from the tracts of mice that had become hairless. Some observations on the distribution of free and combined inositol have been made and it has been shown that several biological materials contain combined inositol. It has been found that deficiency of inositol can develop even when inositol is present in the diet if pantothenic acid is omitted.

Edited for hair loss blog.

Hair loss treatment at the Proctor Clinic

Dr Proctor treats hair loss

Dr Proctor has one of the earliest organic semiconductors in the Smithsonian Chips collection of early electronic devices.

Interestingly, this is another thread of the same research process that eventually led Dr. Proctor to work on hair loss treatment and hair regrowth.

JAMA. 1976;235:2622-3.

Alopecia in crash dieters., Goette DK, Odom RB.

Nine patients experienced profuse hair loss two of five months after starting a vigourous weight reduction program resulting in weight loss of 11.7 to 24.75 kg. Telogen counts of 25% to 50% were observed. Regrowth of hair occurred within several months. Three patients had experienced hair loss closely following a successful weight reduction program on several occasions. Rigorous caloric restriction with subsequent inadequate energy supply of the hair matrix is thought to be the cause for the precipitation of the telogen effluvium of the crash dieter.

edited for hair loss blog