Hair loss & cortisone injections

Question

I have hair loss at both my left & right temples, and my derm thought we could try a handful of cortisone pulse injections on both sides. My question is, could the "watered down" injections make my hair loss worse & can it kill any hair follicles? I was told it was at a low enough strength to not cause an indents

Jae Pak, MD · Answer

You need an exam and a DIAGNOSIS of what you have / why you are losing hair.  If you know the cause, you can consider a treatment.  TRYING steroid injections for what? You need to have more understanding and clarification from your doctor.

Jeff Donovan, MD, PhD · Answer

In general, cortisone injections are used to halt inflammation and used in conditions such asalopecia areatatraction alopeciascarring alopeciaotherThe most common agent is triamcinolone acetonide and concentrations 1-10 mg per mL are used. While any concentration still has the potential to cause "indents" (atrophy) it is quite rare for concentrations less than 3 mg/mL. The medicine is diluted in saline (salt water) or anesthetic, not water. In general, injections can cause telogen effluvium in some individuals (temporary shedding). Most,  but not all, fully regain hair after episodes of telogen effluvium. Steroids do not kill hair follicles. You may find this blog of mine from a few years ago helpful.

Michael Meshkin, MD - Account Suspended · Answer

first the cause of your hair loss should be established.  If it is typical genetic male or female pattern hair loss, then the cortisone shots are a waste of your money.

William Rassman, MD (retired) · Answer

This causes hair loss and the greater the strength of the drug, the worse the hair loss in those young men with genetic balding. I would not recommend experimenting with cortisone injections, not goooooood.

Jonathan Ballon, MD (in memoriam) · Answer

There is no reason to think that cortisone injections will make your hair loss worse. A better question would be, will they make it any better? The answer depends on the cause of your hair loss: unless you have alopecia areata, cortisone injections are unlikely to be of beneffit.

Hair loss & cortisone injections

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