A Case Report of Postpartum Hair Loss

In March 1991, Elise L. Heinrich of Frankfurt, Germany, a happily married thirty-two-year-old woman who had undergone one prior miscarriage and subsequent temporary thinning of the hair, gave birth to a healthy baby. But she lost a lot more hair within four weeks of the delivery. Mrs. Heinrich's hair finally stopped falling after a year, but no new growth returned and bare scalp was apparent. Then, the new mother's baldness worsened even further over the next six months after she stopped nursing. Her obstetrician/gynecologist tried many remedies but after another half-year managed to do nothing much to help her. Wearing a wig became a way of life, for she remained totally bald.

Mrs. Heinrich had taken no medications other than oral contraceptives. She complained of feeling tired all the time. Results of the patient's physical examination and history were normal, but her laboratory examination revealed hypothyroidism (a low thyroid level) and infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), causing chronic fatigue syndrome.

These abnormalities -- prior pregnancy, discontinuance of nursing, using oral contraceptives, hypothyroidism, EBV infection -- could have triggered her underlying androgenetic alopecia, said a skin specialist at the Municipal Clinics at Darmstadt.

Else L. Heinrich eventually got rid of her alopecia within another six months of applying the ThymuSkin® treatment program which is recommended by the entire dermatological staff at the Darmstadt Hospital in Germany.

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