Traction Alopecia... Balding, Alopecia, Weave, Braids, Medication, Biotin, Rogaine

Hello and welcome, thank you so much for your email, i'm lee sang berry and today I'm going to be your ear doctor and any other time that you need me now. I have an email and this is a response, as you can see, i'm here at my desk, responding to your email, and i wanted to give you a video response and i'm going to share this video response. If you notice i've taken certain things out, I've taken your age out. I did go on and mention that you are a black woman but we're gon na say why woman we're not gon na, say old, and I know you just saying whatever your number year old, but we're just going to take that out kind of a sensitive spot For me also, I took out your name because I want to share this response to my other subscribers, my cyber family, because I think this will benefit a lot of women, so I hope you don't mind alright. So first you said you recently subscribe to my YouTube page yay. Thank you very much. I really appreciate that my youtube channel so you're not sure if I've already have a video that covers your questions. Instead, a bit of background about you, you are, you said that your black female and you're at a certain age - and you have you - suffer with hair loss from traction alopecia. So let's go on and highlight that, and I did highlight some things below, but I want a high traction alopecia to address what that is: traction alopecia for those of who may be reading this or listening to this. That may not know it's where you have stress on the follicle. The follicle is being pulled too much through braids we've. It can be pulled through ponytails, where this pull beyond the amount of elasticity. That'S within that strand, as well as the elasticity within the skin and around the follicle itself. It'S poor literally out of the follicle, and sometimes it's permanent, and sometimes it's not depending on if there was inflammation behind it, where the skin around the follicle scar or whether there was just a pool. We'Re broke right in the mouth of the follicle. If it was scarred it would damage permanently. If it didn't scar it would, it would not damage permanently some ways it's just going to be temporary is if it breaks right in the mouth of the follicle, as I said, or if it damages first-degree skin damage. The mouth of the follicle begins to self pollute and then it temporarily damaged okay, so you said that you went to the dermatologist and was told that the scalp looked healthy and that your hair should grow back so for six months, um for six months, you receive Scalp injections, so I'm just a little confused if it was healthy. Why the injections - but I guess you'll email me and tell me what he said about the ring, I'm sure he had a reason for the or she had a reason for the injections injections. Basically, are there it's just steroid, usually and it helps with inflammation, and it helps with inflammation and around the actual follicle within the follicle. When that is treated then generally, you will be able to stimulate some form of growth as you remove that inflammation and that's what the injections are generally used for. So you mentioned that you had injections um now you also mention that you took certain types of supplements and medications and things of that sort so which is going to go on and highlight all those things that you took here and we're going to put a highlight There now this one is a really kind of a ups, and I didn't highlight this one. This is eight kind of a tight um, so I'm going to attempt to pronounce this this medication and then you can go on. You can just type it in and it'll give you a correct pronunciation. Basically, the way it's pronounced is spironolactone, so spironolactone or spironolactone spironolactone, okay. So that is the correct to my knowledge, pronunciation of it. Spironolactone now spiral or not well spiral, no light zone. It'S really kind of a diuretic or water pill and it's usually prescribed for people who have high blood pressure and other things like swelling due to extra fluid on the body systems, and it also has some other benefits and - and we found that many of your view - Physicians will subscribe this if there's a polycystic ovary syndrome like or PCOS, it's really where they'll describe that. For that condition and thats deals with your hormones. You know you have irregular ovulation irregular periods. Things like that, so you'll find that this particular drug will be recommended for that, but it's also recommended for women who are showing like slowing hair loss because of like a slow path toward hair loss that diffuse hair loss within the crown. Generally, you find that sometimes the hairline, but mostly with a crown and that's due to the imbalance of your hormones, it can be where you have a elevation of your testosterone levels as we get older and your you can have a situation where your estrogen levels are Dropping so if any of those things are going on, you may find this drug being um prescribed. Now it's really important to indicate oh and let you know that when you have a imbalance in hormones, this drug is really trying to help you to balance this imbalance. You can't it can affect the hair, it doesn't always valco has to be sensitive to that it can affect the way the hair rose or where the follicle functions. The follicle has to be sensitive, and it's not always the case. Some primary care physicians may give you say, 75 to 200 milligrams per day of this in a high dose if you're having high blood pressure and some other problems, but they also will do it because they feel this effective in treating excess hair growth. Due to these hormonal changes, they just want to do several things to balance your hormones, which is the the case, so I mean I'm, not a medical doctor, I'm a try colleges, but these are things that I know about this. Do it from research that I know about this particular medication, so I would highly recommend you go back and ask a few more questions about why that's being done now. You also mention a multivitamin image and biotin d3 folic acid, and you mentioned officials and the make or three and you receive monthly b12 injections, let's just kind of talk about these um for just a moment now. Let'S look at the multivitamin with biotin biotin helps to produce protein protein called keratin, which is what hair is mostly composed of. So that's really crucial to have that vitamin biotin, especially in cases where you're losing here. That may indicate that you have a problem with that deficiency, so that will be a good supplement. Let'S look at vitamin d3 vitamin d3 produced by the body. It'S pretty much produced itself when it's exposed to like sunlight or things of that sort. But vitamin d3 is pretty it's a hormone and it's it's important that we have that because it plays a very important role and dealing with our calcium and other things as it relates to our body. I me where I could go on on so really. Technically, vitamin d is not aid or vitamin d3 is really not a vitamin because the body can produce it um. So we have to look at this and say a vitamin d3 is really a part of this whole little complex that we deal with. In other words, I'm they're really saying it's more more complex than we really understand. A lot of us in our level of understanding is relates to vitamin D, because it it's begin it. It will produce itself within the body when it's exposed to certain things like sunlight. In and ultraviolet light and those kinds of things, so vitamin D is important all right, so we want to say that it's important, but you can find it in a natural way like in your leafy greens. I talked about this in my book. Everyone was guide to beautiful hair if you're a vegetarian, if you can find it in liver and um. So there are things wasted. You can find it if you don't um have it within. If you don't have it within the body systems, if you don't have it so there are different ways, but anyways, let's go to the next one. What did you say? You said vitamin I mean folic acid well. Folic acid is is major important, because folic acid helps all your tissues to grow through the various sale. So, as your body begins to differentiate those sales mean they become different and become specialized so that they form actually here then it's important to have that good balance. So it helps with the proliferation of the tissue, so helps them to grow and multiply, helps them to differentiate and it helps those sales to work. Well, I mean it's included in your nails, your skin other organs, and it helps with many things. So it's really the folic acid is really important to hair growth, so I can see you having to take that, but it seems like we could multi this all. I don't know if this is what you've done: vitamin with fishel and omega-3s they're, very important, the heart, healthy, hair, healthy you're, just very important to have you can get that if you're vegan in other forms, you don't have to necessarily do fish oil. You can find those in flax seeds. Those are really important as well. That'S what I do, I'm a vegan, so I grind up flax seeds and I put them in everything on salads and smoothies flex water. I just kind of get finely grind up. Seeds put them in a bottle water and shake it up. So then I get them. You said you mentioned, the b12 injections be told, is important for normal information of blood, red blood cells, and it gives you a healthy nerve tissues. Those are what research shows us when you're deficient in b12, all kinds of things could cause you can have problems, you can have problems with their loss. We can do it. Can your hair loss can can happen for different reasons, and those reasons can be okay. So let me just kind of shortens up. At the end of the day, hair loss can occur for a number of different reasons, including a poor diet, not enough of the certain nutrients, I think about iron or vitamin b12 and D. All this is these Kings can interfere with your healthy hair world, but at the end of the day, some of these vitamins - I basically came in a complex, I mean think about it. You'Ve got your water soluble vitamins. They don't accept your vitamin C. These you're going to have vitamin b1 vitamin b2 vitamin b3 b5. All of these b6 b12. Those things are your folic acid, your by its those all these are very important, but you want to have an overall healthy body to help overall healthy hair growth. But let me just tell you this traction: alopecia does not come from a deficiency within the body systems of our vitamins and nutrients. It does not come from your hormonal imbalance. It comes from damage to the surface of the skin. There are two categories of hair loss quickly. I'Ll say this one category is external, and one is internal. Internal is determined by some things that happen within the body systems that can cause a problem with how your follicles function, external happens. On the surface of the skin, traction alopecia is external okay. So let's keep that in mind, you said, unfortunately, there is not much of a change, so the dermatologists recommend that you also start Rogaine. So here we go so now that you, if you realize these, are not going to work because traction alopecia is external. Now he's saying: let's go to Rogaine Rogaine the key ingredients to make Rogaine the most active ingredients is minoxidil. Okay, so Rogaine helps with internal follicular problems within the follicle and how its functions how it grows so Rogaine will not help you either. If this is traction alopecia now I can't guarantee distraction, because I haven't done the examination, but you have a clear examination and diagnosis of traction. Alopecia then Rogaine will not help, and none of these supplements that you recommend this spiral. No lactone spironolactone, nor these other vitamins will help traction alopecia. It will help the skin to be healthier, some of your supplements, but it will not help the track alopecia. I wanted to address that before I got to your your questions, because you have first and second question I do not want you said I do not want to have to use rogaine for the rest of my life, so I went to a consultant to consult my Hair stylist, okay, so here we go, you got your hair stylist involved. We can highlight her or him. I was told that i did not have a lot of shedding, but along with alopecia, i could be over manipulating my hair. Hmm. Some of that true see. This sounds good because over manipulating could be detangling stretching out the hair pulling the hair traction. It could fall under that recently. I had a full sew in and we've installed and that's a good way to put it we've installed, because it's like an installation, it's like it's Wow but anyways, because sometimes they just a major way is put in and so negative. I'M hoping that letting my hair wrist will do it some good now, when you have a weave, apply to your hair, that's not necessarily letting your hair rest, because having we've applied to your hair could cause more traction. So what you want to make sure of is that your hair is weed is tight to the braid, not to the scalp. Now, how do you know that when she puts the braids in she puts it in secure, then she's going to hit use her thread and she's going to secure that braid, but not pull it to the scalp, just make sure it's close and tight, where there's a Nice line there and this she's going to take the West and she's going to sew that with - and you can let your stylists hear this so that web to that braid and make that weft tight to the braid without pulling the scalp. So she'll have her finger. There and she'll pull that tight to the braid, but she does not pull the scalp that way, there's no traction involved and the weave will hold itself in place. Okay, so you're, not letting your hair rest by doing that. Okay. So my first question is: do your first question is: do I recommend anything besides Rogaine to reverse traction? Alopecia pro game will not help traction alopecia, so I do not recommend Rogaine for traction alopecia. What you want to do is create an environment. On the surface of the skin, that's several things with the first thing is created an environment on the surface of the skin, so the skin is healthier. The skin begins to heal itself and you begin to have: let's see, I move that down the skin begins to heal itself, and you begin to have a healthier environment for that scan to have good elasticity. You, you know, there's so many things. Let'S do this: let's undo there we go so you have, the skin has elasticity and it's healthier around the mouth of the follicle. Now, how do you do that? That'S the first thing you do and how do you do that? The first thing that you want to do is you want to make sure that your skin is treated so each night there's a scout treatment. I recommend on my site it's called level 3. Each night you put a drop of the level 3 around that skin and blot it right in to the infected area, and once you do that mess affected area once you do that, then you want to just put your your moisturizers or whatever else you're going to Put around the hair and you go to bed. The second thing you want to do is you want to make sure that there's no more traction if you're going to wear your a sew-in or braids, so whatever you're going to where you're going to make sure that they're not pulling the hair line, you part all That hair line here away from the hairline and move it forward and then they braid or so behind that the hairline hairs are small and they cannot tolerate that kind of pulling so treat that area you with our scalp treatment level, three nightly, and you really you Can do once in the morning, and once at night, blotting it in do not rub and stop all traction, stop all pulling of any type. Take that hairline smooth it forward and allow it to lay against the front the facial area and then smooth it down with moisturizer Rogaine will not help traction. The second question you said: is there certain protective styles that are not good for not good for traction alopecia? When I take my cell in weed out, i was thinking i may have box braids installed in my online research. I found some information that says it's. Okay and and some search research that says, definitely not and then say. Thank you in advance for any information you can provide very good okay. So this is what you want to keep in mind and on. I don't want to show you something too cuz I I did go on and sound out, and this is probably not how it will be sound out anywhere else, but i just did sign sound out this word: spironolactone, Byron, electron that may help you as well. Okay, but um traction alopecia stems from excess, pooling of an information within the follicle accessible on the follicle, so any style that causes that will be problematic. So this is why you have some people say yes to box braids and some people say no. The goal is to wear any style. You want to wear, just don't pull the hair line. That'S it. Don'T pull the hair line, don't pull any point of departure on your scalp. That means whether it's in your crown, wherever it is, don't pull that here. So tight braid tight to the the hair, don't break tight to the scalp. Now you may ask: how am I going to do that when here is an appendage of the scalp? You don't pull you make sure that you can get just the tipping of your nail or almost finger underneath make sure you can move so that that when you lay down on it or when you pull it back, you're not pulling that skin all right. So I'm hoping that this helped I'm lease akbari, your hair doctor, I'm going to go on and put my email address at the top of this page, just to make sure you have it and we'll put it right here next to my name oopsie and that's Lisa. At Lisa act, very calm, Lisa and Lisa act very calm. You can email me and I will continue to email you back. This was a great great group of questions and I'm praying that everyone will benefit from it. Thank you. So much have a blessed wonderful day evening or morning.