I've had AA pretty much my entire life. When I was little I had a patches of hair that just never grew. That went into remission for a few years then came back when I was in high school. I've been doing scalp injections for the last decade probably. It keeps the AA in check, but I never have had full re-growth. My AA has always been pretty easy to cover up, until the last six months when I developed a patch towards the top of my head. My hair is noticably thinner (to me anyway) and I'm considering discontinuing the injections as they are painful and expensive. My hold-up is that the places where I've been receiving injections continue to grow hair, but the edges of the spots seem to expand so the treatment area gets larger and larger.

I think if I don't see significant re-growth by the end of the year, I will be giving up on injections and facing the inevitable, there is no cure and no effective treatment. Might as well wear a wig and have beatiful full hair again :)

Is there anyone else out there that has continued treatment this long, and when did you decide enough was enough?

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Comment by Tallgirl on July 24, 2012 at 8:07pm

Go to archives and read my blog plus the answers:

The AHA! Moment
Most of us can pinpoint The Moment when something big happened (Elvis died, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, Challenger exploded, Kennedy was shot, Princess Diana died, Michael Jackson died, Twin Towers...).

What about the moment you realized you would stay bald forever (or thought you would), and said to the heavens, "Well. Okay, then," and just did what you had to do, from then on, as a person with hair loss...no more prayers, tears, bargaining, shots, etc.? When was that,… Continue

Added by Tallgirl on September 26, 2010 at 9:30pm — 11 Comments

Comment by You can do it : ) on July 24, 2012 at 11:09pm

I have been doing injections for about the past 8 years at least maybe more

Comment by mkangas on July 26, 2012 at 4:30pm

I am going on 11 years. I stopped for about 2 years when all of my hair fell out, despite the injections, and there was too much area to inject. But all of my hair grew back, despite the occasional spot. Hope this gives you a little encouragement :)

Comment by Donna on July 28, 2012 at 2:32pm

I am 55 now and I have done injections on and off for 20 years. Last year while I was continuing to receive monthly injections the hair on the entire back of my head fell out. I was into 3 years straight of injections at this point. Every month 30 shots into the various spots all over my head. 30 is a ball park number it was sometimes more and sometimes less. But each one hurt. ANYWAY....one day I decided that I was done. Done getting shots into my head. I cancelled my long standing monthly dermatology appt. My hair now kicked into high gear regarding how much was falling out. So I shaved off what was left one day. By this time there was the LARGE area (I now discribe it as an AREA because it was so large!) totally gone on the back and the rest was very fine, thin and nasty. I shaved it all off one day. What a relief. I no longer had this big secret to hide from the world. I'm bald. So what. Get over it. It has been 5 months since I have had an injection and I am totally bald. I no longer require a buzz cut every few weeks. Nothing grows anymore. I just saw my 9 year old grandson for the first time (they live far away from us) and it was an adjustment but he got over it. I am still the same person....I just don't look like everyone else. That presents its own set of situations because everyone thinks I have cancer because I am bald. Once I let people know I am not in chemo or anything like that they relax a bit. It takes people a bit of time to adjust to a women who has no hair. Some people can't look me in the eye and then there are some who hold a VERY FIXED GAZE when speaking to me bacause they don't want to accidentally look at my bald head (for god sake, no! You will turn into stone if you look right at it!). LOL!! I have to laugh. I might react similarly so I try to be kind and give them time to adjust. My husband gets to hear all the "bald head" stories that I come home with. For the most part I don't wear a hat. It really does not hide anything anyway. I do protect my skin on my head with sunscreen and that is new for me. I bought a wig but don't wear it. My challenge is walking into the world as a bald women. I do it everyday but I am not totally comfortable with it yet. It has not been a year yet so I am being kind to myself and allowing the process however long it takes. I forget that I am bald (believe it or not). I still walk into the bathroom and surprise myself with my baldness. Now and then I see that "surprised look" from my husband of 32 years. He has to adjust to this also. This is as much of a reality for him as it is for me. He supports whatever I need to do. I am blessed with his unconditionaly love and support. Here are some other things to know about being bald: bald heads are cold in the winter. AA bald heads itch alot. bald heads sweat when its hot. bald heads scare small children....no, no...that last one I made up. Sorry for inserting my form of humor. To sum this all up....I am not sorry that I stopped getting the injections. Being bald has opened a door in my life allowing me the chance to know myself as something deeper then what the world sees. I think we all get to this point as a human being but apparently I need to explore baldness through the filter of being a woman. I'm up for it and embrace the opportunity. One "pro" to being a bald women is every day is a good hair day! I wish for you a sense of humor in dealing with this "little speed bump" in your life. Smile...bald is beautiful:)

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