Thyroid Gland and Hair Loss

Becoming bald as we age doesn’t always have to be inevitable. Sometimes losing your hair is genetic, or can be related to trauma or stress. But it can be a warning sign of a disease that needs to be treated. Thyroid disease is a surprisingly common disease, in fact in parts of the word where iodine is scarce hypothyroidism, a syndrome caused by low thyroid hormone, is so common that more than 15% of the people over 60 have it. It can cause hair loss, a goiter, weight gain and depression.

Your thyroid is a gland located where your neck meets your chest.  It’s usually small and butterfly shaped and it is critical for your good health and good looks. If your thyroid does not work you can become very ill, most people with a non-functioning thyroid know very soon that they have a problem. The interesting thing is that many people have a thyroid that works but it does not work very well.  In fact a very large study as part of the national health and nutrition survey found that up to 5 % of adults in the United States have hypothyroidism (aoki, 2007). In some countries it can happen to as much as 15% of the population and it becomes more common as you get older.

If you are becoming bald it may be a sign that your thyroid isn’t working well. It has been shown that human hair follicles, the cells that produce and grow hair, and the skin cells surrounding the hair have thyroid hormone receptors on their bodies (Messenger, 2000 ). They react to thyroid hormone by being stimulated and growing strong healthy hair.  If you don’t have enough thyroid hormone the follicles get sick then die, the skin gets loose and your hair can fall out easily when doing something as simple as brushing or combing it. The thyroid is important in your health in other places as well, it plays a role in mood, weight gain, skin tone and your cardiac and gastro-intestinal systems. But often when people begin to develop hypothyroidism the very first symptoms they notice can be just hair loss and feeling fatigued or depressed (Berkow, 1992). These can be the first and only symptom and your thyroid can remain minimally functional for years without progressing to more severe symptoms that your doctor would notice. In fact in 1991 a study on patients who had been monitored by doctors for 1 year or more, in a nursing home in the United States found that more than 9% of men and 14% of women had hypothyroidism that was not diagnosed or treated (Drinka, 1990).

Why is this all important to someone losing their hair? Simply no one wants to be bald. No one wants to lose their hair. Sometimes you have limited options but this is not one of those times. You now know how common hypothyroidism is and how frequently it is missed or overlooked. It should be a prime consideration in anyone, especially young women, who are losing their hair and feeling bad about it. Feeling bad or depressed is a symptom of hypothyroidism. Treating hypothyroidism is usually a simple matter of taking replacement hormones such as levothyroxine and making sure that there is not a more severe underlying cause. But once hypothyroidism is identified it can be treated. Your baldness can improve, as your hair re-grows and as a bonus you will begin feeling better about yourself and your looks.

Now it is important to note that taking thyroid hormone when you do not have hypothyroid can be dangerous so please see a doctor before you diagnose and treat yourself. Also know that taking too much levothyroxine even if you do have hypothyroidism can be dangerous. For a beautiful, full head of hair you need just enough, not too much, not too little.

Medical references:

1-  Aoki Y, Belin RM, Clickner R, Jeffries R, Phillips L, Mahaffey KR. Serum TSH and total T4 in the United States population and their association with participant characteristics: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 1999-2002).  Thyroid. Dec 2007;17 (12):1211-23

2-  Messenger AG. “Thyroid hormone and hair growth”. Br J Dermatol. 2000 Apr;142(4):633-4.

3-  Berkow R, ed. “Hypothyroidism” The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy–Volume 1 – General Medicine. 16th edition. Rahway, NJ: Merck Research Laboratories; 1992:933-935

4-  Drinka PJ, Nolten WE. “Prevalence of previously undiagnosed hypothyroidism in residents of a midwestern nursing home”. South Med J. 1990 Nov;83(11):1259-61, 1265.