Ask An Expert: Hair Loss and Diabetes

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Ask An Expert: Hair Loss and Diabetes

Question:

Is hair loss a common symptom of diabetes, and is it reversible? I have noticed that my hair has gotten very thin and I have recently been diagnosed with diabetes?

Answer:

Hair loss can have a variety of patterns, and it is possible for hair loss to accompany other illnesses. Diffuse hair loss can result after any significant medical stress, including diabetes.

When a medical stress leads to diffuse hair loss, the stress of illness causes many hairs (each anchored in a separate hair follicle) to stop growing. Several months after the hairs in their follicles begin "resting" (several months after the medical stress or illness was at its worst), replacement hairs begin to grow. The replacement hairs from each follicle push the old hair to the scalp surface, and it is at this time that the hair falls out loosely. This type of hair loss is named "telogen effluvium." The most common medical stress that can result in telogen effluvium is pregnancy and childbirth.

One or more small patches of hair loss can be caused by an autoimmune problem called alopecia areata. Alopecia areata is frequently accompanied by one or more additional autoimmune problems, such as thyroid disease, the skin rash vitiligo, or pernicious anemia, which is an immune attack in the digestive system resulting in a deficiency in vitamin B12. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune problem in most cases, but it is not as closely associated with alopecia areata and hair loss.

Sometimes, type 2 diabetes occurs at the same time as a hormonal imbalance for women, known as polycystic ovary syndrome. Both of these conditions have been linked to insulin resistance, the lessened ability of cells in the body to react to the hormone insulin. Polycystic ovary syndrome can be associated with a receding hairline and with hair growth in cosmetically undesirable locations for women, such as the lip or the chest.

Mary Pickett, M.D., is a lecturer for Harvard Medical School and an assistant professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, OR. At OHSU, she practices general internal medicine and teaches medical residents and students.

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Last updated:	January 24, 2007

Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.

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