About 3 wks ago, while brushing my daughter's beautiful curly medium-blond hair, I noticed a considerable amount coming out in the brush. I honestly just figured that it was an isolated incident and only looked like a lot because her hair was so long, middle to lower back. Well, here we are 3 wks later and my precious little princess has extremely noticeable bald patches all over her head. Her luxurious long locks are now barely shoulder length. While it is breaking my heart, she doesn't seem to notice, and I am thankful that in every other aspect of her health she is completely healthy, as far as we are aware anyway. I can't help but think the worst. For weeks I have "******d" every relative term I could possibly conceive of and all I get are 4 different scenarios, that either simply don't make much sense in her case, or look nothing like what she is going through. I have been patiently awaiting today, we had a doc appointment. This was our first encounter with this physician and we will not be going back. I will not elaborate (no need) but he was very unprofessional. His take on the situation, after a 5 minute evaluation that included my 3 yr old's two other sister's evaluations? Dandruff. Use some dandruff shampoo and let him know what happens... I am extremely agitated to say the very least. I don't know where to go from here. And I honestly don't even think she has dandruff. Her scalp didn't become (slightly) flaky until the hair in those spots was gone. Couldn't her skin just be chapped from the cold weather?

Has anyone ever heard of anything like this?
Could dandruff really cause extreme hair loss?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kayla

Thyroid! In particular HYPOTHYROIDISM. You need to get her to the MD and request that she have her thyroid tested. TSH, FT3, and FT4 blood tests. Accept no substitutes. T3 and T4 do not cut it. Also do not accept normal without getting a copy of the blood work and posting it on the thyroid board. Too many MDs accept the out dated ranges of the labs which haven't been changed to meet new guidlines in the last 10 - 20 years. You also need to get a full blood chemical panel run including, Ferritin, vit B12, vit D, Mg, K, Ca. Deficiencies in these can cause hypoT symptom mimicry as well. Hair loss is a serious sign that something is off.

FYI: I have Hashimoto's disease.. this is a hypothyroid AI that developed during my pregnancy. We have to watch my son carefully, because since it went untreated and undiscovered for years after my pregnancy.. I could have passed it to my son. Now yearly or when symptoms like chronic ills, skin issues, hair loss, failure to grow.. we have to get his blood checked to see if thyroid supplementation is necessary. Get a copy of the blood work and compare with these National Association of Clinical Biology optimal guidelines. Optimal for a 3 year old is a TSH about 2, with FT3 and Ft4 levels in the 50-80% range. It the FT3 and FT4 are low to low normal and the TSH is 5 or greater.. you are looking at subclinical hypothyroid and most likely need to medicate.. especially given the hair loss.

Where is your child on the growth scale.. has she stalled on her weight and height growth. This is an indicator of failure to thrive do to hypoT. Sleep apnea can also cause the failure to thrive but not the hair loss. Certain high level toxins from the environment can cause hair loss as well as the lack of sufficient vitamins and minerals. But you have to be extremely low for that to occur. I hope this helps. I also hope that she doesn't have a thyroid issue.. because fighting for treatment is what you literally half to do. Is there a history of familial thyroidism? You, siblings, parents, grandparents? Look up the symptoms and then talk to your family members. I didn't know how bad it was in my family until five years after my pregnancy and a new OB suggested that I had an issue. My mother and her four sisters were brought up to be ashamed of said ailments and to suffer in silence. Well not any more we vent and gripe and support each other the best we can given our pains in the necks.

Sincerely,
MG

I do not want to take away from anything mkgbrook said, and I absolutely agree with her that you should get a more thought-out medical evaluation than what she's had so far.

However, toddlers do sometimes just lose their hair for a while, and then maybe have it grow back a different color. A friend of mine in college went almost completely bald sophmore year, one patch at a time, then wore a hat for a while. It grew back shortly before we graduated.

So, yes, it could be a sign of a serious health problem, it should be checked out, but it might be nothing important.

look into alopeica. (sp?) It is when there is nothing medically wrong, but people just loose hair. It can happen at all stages of life. Good luck, and i hope you find a dr. that has some bedside manners and compassion.

This happened to my son. Our doctor (whom I like very much) told us the same thing. To use dandruff shampoo and to report back. After a few weeks the hair started to grow back and we haven't had any issues since.

Just because he has a terrible bedside manner doesn't necessarily mean he is wrong.

I am not discounting the need to check this out - just wanted to relate our experience. Good luck!

Liz