Traction / Stress Alopecia from sleeping with eye mask?

Hello Yolo2012! My name is Jessica, I am a physician assistant, and one of the providers at Shah Facial Plastics. This is a great question. If you are experiencing symptoms of hair loss/hair thinning, I recommend beginning treatment with PRP plasma injections or Exosomes injections. I highly recommend scheduling an in-person consultation in order to better assess your areas of concern and discuss an appropriate treatment plan to help achieve your aesthetic goals. Our office phone number is: (312) 944-0117. I hope this helps and best of luck!

Hello I'm Dr. Wipawan Vathananai, a co-worker of Dr. Kulakarn Amonpattana, from BHI Clinic, Bangkok, Thailand. I think it's better to sleep without the eye mask if possible since it might cause pressure alopecia to the donor area. It would be great if you can specify which type of eye mask you usually wear during sleep.

Hello and thank you for your question. I don't think sleeping with an eye mask could cause traction alopecia mainly because most sleeping masks are not very tight. Unless you wear your mask extremely tight I don't think you have anything to worry about. Best of luck to you.

Dr. T

For most eye masks, the tension is too minimal to cause traction alopecia. However, I don’t know how tight your mask is so be sure to bring it in to your appointment with your dermatologist. He or she can evaluate. The presence of significant hair loss in focal areas under tension along with trichoscopy findings showing casts, miniaturization and redness would support the diagnosis. While tight fitting masks can rarely cause traction, I have not yet seen the typical eyemask for nighttime use cause this. But be sure to review fully with your doctor.