My wife is losing hair in the top and her scalp is soft and ...

Hi Customer (name blocked for privacy). Thank you for asking your question on Just Answer. Just a couple questions:

Does your wife have any chronic medical conditions or take any medication or supplements regularly?

Is your wife African American?

Is the hair loss the only notable change in her health or appearance lately?

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Yes she is African American and the hair loss is the only noticable thing in her health and she does not have a chronic condition nor does she take medications. I have been married to her 11 years and she has never been sick other than a cold. The top of her head is soft to touch and puffy as if it is inflammed. I'm worried about it.

Edited by Customer (name blocked for privacy) on September 20 2006 at 8:42pm

One possibility would be Lipedematous alopecia: a rare disorder mainly seen in adult African-American females. Lipedematous scalp, which is the hyperplasia (overgrowth) of the subcutaneous adipose (fat) tissue in the scalp, causing a spongy feel, and sometimes resulting in patchy areas of hair loss and shortening of existing scalp hairs. This condition is not a malignancy or pre-cursor to any known cancer.
The current treatment being used is called Finasteride, Which is successful in 50-75% of cases in restoring hair growth. For more information on Lipedematous alopecia and Lipedematous scalp go to:

http://dermatology.cdlib.org/122/case_reports/lipedematous/tosti.html

The biopsy results will, of course, will be the determining test.

Edited by cch771 on September 21 2006 at 11:20am

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I hope my information is helpful. If you have more questions, just ask! I will gladly help, otherwise please click "accept".
Positive feedback and any bonus would be appreciated. Thank you, Christy