My 16 year old daughter's hair is falling out

[susanweatherfor]

I am so worried about my daughter. Her hair is so thin and brittle. I check her hairbrush every morning and little hair isin her brush. She has been taking hair supplements for over a year. Her hair grows slowly, but it either breaks off or falls out. She had long, pretty hair until about 2 years ago. I have had her checked for thyroid issues and all was fine. It looks thinner everyday to me. I don't know what to do!

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I'm sorry to hear this. What's her diet like? Is she eating healthily, and enough? Has she been through a stressful time in the last few months?

[lapushka]

Yes, what about her diet? Do you know if she's eating? Does she eat in front of you? Is anything up with that.

How was the rest of her bloodwork?

Have you taken her to the doctor specifically for this issue yet? (dermatologist)

Oh, BTW, welcome to this site.

[spidermom]

Sometimes teenagers get strange ideas about diet and body image. For example, my 15 year old granddaughter recently went through a trial of only fruit. I was pretty sure she'd get bored with it before it caused her health any harm, and she did. Is something like that going on with your daughter?

[akurah]

Have you spoken with the doctor about this beyond what is thyroid related? Hair loss and brittle hair can simply be vitamin deficiencies (they have blood tests for most of the vitamins in question, I recently got both iron and vitamin D checked), or it could be a symptom of something more severe, and it's not always thyroid related.

[browneyedsusan]

Welcome!
Something isn't right here. Could she have gone through some trauma 4 or 6 months ago that led to a shed? How are her nails? (Hair and nail troubles often show up together.)
Does it bother her? I don't know your child, but some people take life's challenges in stride, and others freak out over a paper cut. Maybe DD would love a little pixie she could dye purple or green (or half and half!) for a few months until it passes?
You can always take her for bloodwork, if her health seems off? Puberty is tough on kids. All kinds of wierdness seems to crop up then.

Good luck with it.

Yours in mothering,
-- DD20 and DS22

[Dark40]

She may not be getting enough protein in here diet. Is she eating healthy? Has she been in stressful situations?

[Alibran]

Assuming she is eating a healthy, varied diet, look into vitamin B12 deficiency. Check her hair supplements (and any other supplements she's taking) for B12, and if there's any in them, she'll need to come off them for 3 months, then ask your doctor to test her B12 level and also do a full blood count.

Don't discount any of the other suggestions people have made, and hopefully it will be one of those things, but if not, hair loss is a common sign of B12 deficiency. It's often caused by an autoimmune disorder that means the body can't process B12, so if it is that, no amount of diet changes and supplementation will fix it.

[Angeni]

I would definitely look at her diet. Most Americans are deficient in vitamins B12, D, and Magnesium. Any one of those can cause hair loss or hair thinning. And I know when I was a teenager I definitely did not eat as well as I should have.

Also, have a calm and respectful chat with her asking how shes doing and if shes going through any stressful situations. Even if she doesn't want to tell you what they are, just let her know you're there for her if need be. Being a teenager these days is super stressful and stress is really bad for pretty much everything lol.