Although a lot of people mention hair loss when on pred I suspect the main cause is the illness for which they are taking the pred - it often takes a few months for it to become apparent. If it is pred it will grow back - though I assume she is relatively young and totally beside herself about it. My daughter lost a lot of hair when ill with stress and happily switched to wigs - she used one grey one that made her look just like me when I was younger (fewer wrinkles, naturally prematurely grey hair) but she used a variety of colours. Stunning!
How strange - we were talking about MF on another forum recently.
The pred side effects thing is definitely a mystery! For example I had those weird red bruises at a dose where they might be expected. Then they cleared up, only to reappear, although much smaller, at a much lower dosage, again to disappear. And hair! Thankfully I always had about three times the normal amount of head hair, so I didn't look too thinned out when I lost half of it gradually over a few months. Then it seemed to get better. Hair is slow, of course. It thins because new hair isn't growing, and it takes a while for that to become noticeable. Same when it starts to grow back again. Eileen's suggestion about seizing the day and enjoying some lovely wigs sounds like a super idea. And with the way so many people colour their hair in any rainbow colour I think your niece could look fab! I hope she is feeling better and continues her recovery.
I know several people who lost their hair and again wear wiggs and love it. I on the other hand from prednisone have gained facial hair and hate it. Much rather loose it and be funkie every day. My old receptionist wore wiggs just because.
Hi everybody, My hair became very dry, strawlike, hard to manage, curlier, but I think it got a little thicker. Now that I'm down to 5 mg. my hair is doing so much better! I did wear wigs to a special occasion from time to time, and still do occasionally By the way my nails became so much stronger and don't break off any more (when they were previously paper thin). One day when wearing my wig, a woman came up to me in the store and told me that my hair styilist does a wonderful job. I remained cool and just said "Thankyou!"
While I was on Medrol (methylprednisolone) for 9 months my hair turned into a brillo pad both in appearance and texture and seemed to stop growing! But when I was switched to a form of prednisone - back came my thick normal hair. For a couple of years it was really curly but that has gone too - with a bit of assistance from me in the way it is cut and I blow-dry it. The curl was too unreliable
At the same Medrol time - I had a wonderful BLACK beard - I've been a "natural platinum blond" for over 20 years! That's gone too thank the lord - but thank goodness for my epilator at the time!