scalp pain

Throughout the time I’ve suffered with hair loss I’ve had several episodes of scalp pain, sensitivity and a burning sensation. Trying to touch my head, lying down on a pillow or even moving my hair slightly would cause excruciating severe pain to my scalp. I had no idea what caused this and why it was sporadic, it would last for while then just disappear, last episode I had was this past July. Apparently there is a correlation between hair loss, telogen effluvium and scalp pain, also called trichodynia.

This is what I found about it on Wikipedia:

Trichodynia is a condition where the patient experiences a painful sensation on their scalp. The pain sometimes is described as burning. Trichodynia often is associated with hair loss, but some studies show it has no connection to hair loss. Often there is an underlying psycho-somatic cause, such as stress, depression or anxiety.

Only a few studies have been conducted on this condition. A theory behind the condition is that nerves innervating scalp hair follicles send pain messages back to the brain when the follicle no longer has a hair in it, in a similar way to phantom limb pain. Another theory is that people who have this condition (sometimes called “ponytail syndrome”) have super-sensitive nerves in their scalp.

A possible treatment is to halt hair loss in the patient, however it is important to understand and address any underlying psychologic comorbity (humm…of course I’m thinking, easier said than done)

I also wanted to share this article I found about it:

Hair Pain (Trichodynia): Frequency and Relationship to Hair Loss and Patient Gender
Barbara Willimann, Ralph M. Trüeb

Background: Patients complaining of hair loss frequently claim that their hair has become painful. Objective and Methods: The aim of the study was to evaluate the frequency of this phenomenon and its relationship to hair loss. Patients seeking advice for hair loss either spontaneously reported or were questioned about painful sensations of the scalp. [click to continue…]

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