My 22 year old daughter has been suffering from hair thinning and hair loss for over a year now. Her density has gone down so much (probably half of what she used to have) and she has hair fall every time she runs her hands through her hair not to mention how much comes out when she brushes it, she is scared to brush it now.
We have seen three different dermatologists which have all diagnosed her with different things leaving us feeling very confused and frustrated.
The first derm diagnosed her with Lichen Planopilaris triggered by COVID, saying that he can see scarring towards the back of her scalp which as you can imagine has been so devastating for her. He booked her in for a biopsy to confirm this diagnosis.
With the second derm the experience was extremely different. My daughter has PCOS, the derm pointed out the mild acne on her face too and said she suspects its a hormonal imbalance causing Female Pattern Baldness and she prescribed Spiro. When I told her about the previous diagnosis she told me that she sees 0 scarring and that what my daughter has is classic FPB symptoms and no biopsy is needed.
Obviously not being satisfied with two completely different diagnoses, we went to a third derm and she gave me yet another diagnosis, Telogen effluvium from COVID and mild FPB and prescribed topical minoxidil.
It just baffles me that three qualified dermatologists can have such different opinions. Its also extremely upsetting because we have spent so much money just to not have a solid diagnosis. We really want to know what is the actual reason behind the hair loss because we can’t treat it properly unless we know what’s going on. I also don’t want her to start any drugs just for the sake of trial and error and without knowing what this is.
Does anyone have any experience/advice regarding this? I am really torn on what to do.