Hello,

I haven't logged in here in a long time, but I like to come here sometimes to just scroll around... I saw your post, and my heart broke because I went through the same thing. I lost my eyebrows due to "seb derm". I put "seb derm" in quotations because dermatologists just give names to skin conditions...

I do not know if my cure will help you, but it is worth a shot. I got seb derm in my eyebrows when I was 16. I am 21, almost 22 and I just found my cure by myself 5 months ago.

Topical: Aqua Glycolic Cleanser, and Prep skin refreshing toner.

Internal: THIS IS WHAT GOT RID OF IT: IRON!!!! I guess I was iron deficient. Please let me say that it is well-known that it is DANGEROUS to take iron without getting a diagnosis. But I was so desperate, I did not care about my own life. lol... I did not overdose. I just took a bit more than the recommended amount for me. I realized my diet lacked iron BIG TIME. I always chose chicken over beef (not anymore.. ).... things like this. ALSO, I was on meds that inhibited iron absorption and my food choices inhibited iron (dairy and tea). I stopped both right away. I take my iron in the morning and calcium at night. Blackstrap molasses was also great. I took around 40 mg in the beginning because I was scared. My seb derm completely went away in 1 month. I upped my dosage to around 100 mg and has been like this for about 4 months? Something like that... I thought this would stop my eyebrows from falling out. It didn't. However, I have tons of new regrowth and the hairs that I usually pluck have a black root instead of a white root which is NEW for me... since It's been a while. I feel like this is a good sign... and the eyebrow loss will eventually slow down... It takes a while to build up FERRITIN (iron stores) in the blood. So... I have not gotten my blood drawn because after the seb derm went away, I knew the iron was a big player, and took matters into my own hands because doctors have been no use or help. Also, I have lost a lot of blood already (surgeries, periods, etc...) I didn't want to lose anymore in fear it would slow me down. I will get my blood drawn next month (6 month mark). Just 2 days ago, I started on b12 (methyl) to see if it would help with the loss because I have premature gray hair and cold hands and feet. I thought the iron would fix this BUT... it didn't. HOWEVER.. the b12 has so far!!! I have been warm ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL day for the past 2 days. Even at night. And I live in a cold climate and my heater sucks. I think this is the missing link for me.

Good luck to you.

I don't log in as much... but just had to pass this information to you.

hi idk..thank you for responding...i have been taking iron for a while but not sure if its helping. did u get these plugs in eyebrows? bc most people w seb derm have scaling, flakes and i have this but i dont hear about the follicles plugging up. i read somewhere on here that it could be keratosis pilaris? i think the gycolic cleanser is worth a try bc i think it exfoliates the pores that the rice grain things stick out of. i am so scared i am going to lose all my eyebrows.

Please...anyone else...there must be someone out there who knows what this is...

i've had over 500 views and only one response...please, can anyone give me an idea what this could be? I would really appreciate it!

Hi,

I would be careful with what you use to treat the brows, as you've mentioned using cream or shampoo. I've read that the area is very sensitive to anything you put there and could increase the hair loss by clogging the pores.

I'm 30 and have noticed my eye brows getting thinner as I got older, so I searched online. Some people have said not to use any moisturizer in that area, but it's a little dry/itchy for me so I do it anyway. If I don't, I get flakes in that area and I try to exfoliate a bit.

Sorry that doesn't really help, but maybe it's something to consider.

hi idk..thank you for responding...i have been taking iron for a while but not sure if its helping. did u get these plugs in eyebrows? bc most people w seb derm have scaling, flakes and i have this but i dont hear about the follicles plugging up. i read somewhere on here that it could be keratosis pilaris? i think the gycolic cleanser is worth a try bc i think it exfoliates the pores that the rice grain things stick out of. i am so scared i am going to lose all my eyebrows.

Suffering12,

Sorry for the late reply. I don't come here often. lol

Yes I got the plugs, and they would be attached to the eyebrow hair. Everytime I tried to "extract" them I would lose eyebrow hairs. Even when I just briefly touched my eyebrows, I would lose a whole bunch. My seb derm was very oily, big yellow flakes with the plugs in all of my eyebrow hairs. From my reading, it is usually due to some type of deficiency. I would look at what you are personally deficient in. I have read success stories from people who took D3, or B2, and all these other supplements that never worked for my seb derm. It was not until I tried iron that I noticed the flakes and plugs disappearing. Unfortunately, I still lose my eyebrows. This all started when I took Spironolactone (Aldactone). I was only on it for 1 month, and seb derm + eyebrow loss happened, and has not stopepd despite being off of the drug. Just today, I was thinking maybe I developed some type of deficiency. But how is that possible when I take a multivitamin? I don't know... But I figured it was worth googling. Well Well Well...........turns out Aldactone depletes the body of folic acid, and iron!!! So I'm going to go pick up some folic acid. But, I will use FOLATE. Folic acid is not utilized by the body by most people. I also learned folic acid is the synthethic version and MANY drugs deplete folate in the body. You should think hard about the drugs you have taken and see if you could be deficienty in any of those. I've been on antibiotics, pain killers, and spirionlactone. So I'm definately going to extra supplement (b12, folate, iron, biotin, and zinc).

Glycolic acid helped, but it was not the solution. Please look deeper. It is not a superficial problem.

Thanks for your replies. Idk, I dont get flakes that are attached to the hairs, these sebum plugs that are coming out of the pores are growing out of the follicle with the hair. And in some, its almost like the sebum ball is attaching my hair to the skin, just hanging there by a thread. I dont have crusts on the skin. And when I sweat or the area gets moist I get this paste all over them that I can easily rub off with my fingers. I dont know if this is oil, or dead skin. I went to an acne clinic and the doctor said its seb derm skin but when I showed her all the hairs that have fallen out with scale surrounding the bulb of the hair she said seb derm doesnt cause that. So Im off to yet another dermatologist to try to find out what this is.

Help! Have you found any solution ? I've lost half of my brows to this exact problem and can't find anything that helps

Please tell me your solutions!

Hey,

I have this exact problem on [only] my left eyebrow. It started with severe itching, all was well and good however the itching continued and then I noticed dandruff like deposit on my eyebrow.

It would itch every single day, especially in work, and when I was focusing on something like my xbox game. Now, for the past maybe 6 months I have been losing at least 5 eyebrow hairs a day, it is truly crippling.

I, started using canestone (maybe) anti-fungal cream as i read it may be a fungal infection, this did nothing. I then went to 2 doctors, one brushed it off as dry skin and said that the inflammation from itching the eyebrow has caused the hair loss, at the other doctor i told him I wanted a blood test as it could be thyroid issues, he also put me on hydrocortisone steroid cream, I used it for maybe 2 weeks it stopped the itching for a while but then seemed to stop. The blood test came back fine, all I asked for was a full screening whatever that means, but still, it came back fine.

So now I spend basically every week in fluctuations of happiness and depression, If I touch my eyebrow slightly and no hair is on my finger I [sadly] feel really happy like they are remotely normal, sad really. Each day I use everything from aloe vera to give a nice cool moisturised feeling, I find that tea tree oil really suppressed the itching and I really thought this was the cure, coconut oil, you name it I have tried everything topical.

Each day now I will wake up, before my shower usually look in the mirror to find 2/3 hairs hanging out of my eyebrow, get in the shower and not even touch the eyebrow, get out and lightly dab the eyebrow to dry it, and I will put tea tree oil mixed with pure 100% coconut oil, for a week or 2 i though I had it under control, the inflammation and itching disappeared, however i would look at my eyebrow whilst at my desk in work and there would be loose hairs lying out of shape on my eyebrow that i could just rub off, like you said they hairs develop these rice like plugs near the root of them.

It is like my eyebrow hairs are jumping off my face, I didn't touch my eyebrow once today in college because it didn't itch once, i go to the toilet and glance in the mirror and there are 2 hairs hanging out of it, each hair has a small bulb on the bottom of it like you said. So yeah I am pretty much in your boat, probably like many others, I think a lot of people probably suffer and scout the internet for cures, it's exactly what I am doing. To be honest I honestly have no confidence this will ever be cured, and that is something which make me angry every day.

It's crazy really, I never even knew what seb derm was like 1 year ago, now it completely rules my life, emotions and looks.

So let me know what you find, hear, do and discover about this disgusting condition!!!!

Jack

I have had this problem for about six months. My eyebrows all fell out and now has moved to hairline making me very self conscience as I have very thick hair normally. Mine had the white grain at the end but also painful pus bumps that the hair grew out of. I was given antibiotics by dermatologist... Which did not help. I have spent so much time looking for causes bc the derm was so dismissive, which resulted in scaring the crap out myself from all the things I have found. Yesterday I randomly came across something that I think could actually be the cause: white piedra. Try googling and see if it describes what you are dealing with.

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Made an account so I could help out. I had a similar issue in the past. I would recommend a few things, in order of direct relevance to your problem -

1) Use Nizoral shampoo on your eyebrows. My eyebrows were falling out a few years ago and this was the main thing that helped. An even better solution is a more natural shampoo that contains Ketaconzaole along with other beneficial components such as Regenepure which is used for hair loss. This is available on Amazon but is on the pricey side.

2) Apply Polysorbate 80 in the shower and wash off after 10-15 minutes. Polysorbate is a substance that basically absorbs oil. People use it for hair loss due to the thought that sebum-clogged hair follicles will prevent hair from growing. I noticed that when I used this, rice grain sebum plugs (attached to my hair that fell out) went away. I was always so curious why those occurred. Anyways, you can order this on Amazon.

3) Eyebrow thinning can be a sign of thyroid issues. Get your thyroid levels checked (TSH, T3, RT3, T4). Many doctors will just test TSH and call it a day. Make them test everything or see a different doctor if they won't. Getting T3 and RT3 within the reference range is the most important. In order to do that, you want to take Armour Thyroid or Cytomel (synthetic T3). Don't let them try to treat you with Synthroid (synthetic T4) as its conversion into T3 is impaired in many people with thyroid issues.

4) Don't underestimate the impact of systemic issues like diet. Eating a better diet will help all around - it often takes a long time for all the changes to filter through your body. I follow a paleo diet (SCD) which fits me the best, but YMMV. In general, avoiding processed foods, gluten, and polyunsaturated vegetable oils will benefit everyone.

Hope this helps. I know how stressful this can be.

The other thing I will add is that Polysorbate 80 is quite sticky so mix it with some water and apply it very carefully.

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Interesting to hear other people have this problem, or at least something very similar. From what I hear lots of things can cause follicular plugging. Ive lived with this for over 15 years and it has caused havoc on my scalp and has recently become more noticeable on my eyebrows. They are indeed small, hard plugs and are probably keratin. They crush into a yellowish residue of what looks like dead skin cells, sebum and all of that stuff. I get it in patches and randomly on the scalp; this has led to hair loss including an off centre patch and some down the vertex but not permanently destroying all of the follicles. This is mixed with a strange (sometimes hard to see) scalp rash, purplish/red inflammation with an intense itch which comes and goes. The eyebrows have me concerned, if I part he eyebrows back I can see that there are many hairs with the plugging taking place. These hairs are loose, and if you rock them around theyll fall out, the hairs have most likely already fallen but are literally stuck in place because of the glue of the keratin plug. The only thing Ive found to help is to use a cotton bud to gently massage in some neat organic face wash containing tea tree, I use one from Green People called oy. This seems to help soften the blocking plugs but it also seems to lighten my eyebrow hairs so its a tossup. My skin is naturally very oily so Ive used this facewash for years and it really works, also no moisturiser for me!

Additionally my hairs are always been weak they pull out quite easy around the sides of the head and outer eyebrows, Im convinced that thyroid may have something to do with it as I had two patches of hair loss on my calves, one has completely re-grown and the other is on the way since taking an iodine supplement. I also have Reynards syndrome and various other typical thyroid issues: unable to regulate heat, and temperate intolerance, sweating etc.

Ive had blood work done and seen multiple Drs and will be seeing a dermatologist once more tomorrow. Originally he was going to treat me with antibiotics Deoxycyline for either a) Folliculitis b) Lichen Planopilaris and if that didnt work he suggested it could be c) discoid lupus d) alopecia areata

Im sure the list could go on...

He was planning a biopsy the last time I saw him but i declined, I have since decided to get it done to help diagnose whats going on, I owe it to myself as its been going on for years. Obviously I hope it finds the root(!) of the cause.

Honestly though, I doubt hell find the cause. I hope other people have had more joy.

I have this exact same problem.. been dealing with it ever since I was 15 when my skin started to get super oily during puberty. I have these plugs attached to the brow follicle and if I try to touch they shed. Has anyone found a cure for this? I am in serious need of 1 turning 21 tomorrow and this has been severely ruining my mental state I want it gone A.S.A.P