Bare patches on face where stubble used to be...

seachto7

Hi all,

Not looking for medical advice obviously, but interested to hear from guys who may have the same problem.

Basically on both side of my face, on the jawline, I now have blank patches. I can't grow a beard or "5 o clock shadow" anymore, because it looks like I have some weird disease!

Now I was a bit stressed out earlier this year, so am putting it down to that. But it's June, and I've felt fine for the last 4 or 5 months, especially between the ears, but the stubble shows no signs of growing back.

I'm not too bothered. I just have to keep my face clean shaven. but there are 2 or 3 obvious bare patches when the stubble starts to grow.

Does this right itself naturally over time?

TommyKnocker

I have never seen anything like you describe, but if this was me, I would prefer that the bare patches grew over time to cover my whole lower face and I never had to shave again

Staff Infection

Well I had a bout of folliculitis earlier in the year on my jawline (below my ear on either side) when I finally got rid of the folliculitis I had two bare patches which have thankfully grown back. However, I've never heard of two bare patches forming without some medical reason.
OP if you are concerned ask your local pharmacist (that's what I did) they can offer advice etc. and best of all it's free Might be better to figure out what is going on just incase it is something to get checked and if not at least you'll know it's nothing to worry about.

MadYaker

I've always had this on my chin. 2 small patches about the size of a finger tip. It doesn't really bother me to be honest, I've never been very self conscious about my looks. I don't shave every day so I often have a bit stubble.

seachto7

Mine are fairly sizeable on both sides of my chin, and one on the right under my jawline as well. Only appeared in Jan/Feb....
I can't grow any stubble as it looks like I f*cked up shaving or something...

Flaker

Sounds a bit like alopecia (don't know if that's spelled right). My brother had something very similar to this. He reckons it was due to stress. He even lost a little of the hair on his head, but his hair is long so he could camoflage it quite well. It did eventaully grow back, but it did take a while and his has grown back grey!! But it did grow back which is the main thing and the grey in his bread isn't that noticable.

seachto7

Yep, I guess I'll sit it out At least it'll make me have to shave

DubTony

I had this myself about 18 months ago. Three patches on my face and 4 or 5 on my head. I pretty much knew it was stress related, so didn't do anything about it. It sorted itself out after about 6 months.

Tchaikovsky

I'm in the exact same position as you, man; started in January and it hasn't improved at all since then.

I presume it was from stress and went to my GP about a week after first noticing it. He said that I'd be back to full growth by summer but since then more patches have appeared and grown larger.

It's definitely Alopecia Barbae and although it's not life-threatening, it is a pisser when you don't know the cause, cure or when/if it'll improve. It's very rare by all accounts too, so I guess we can regard ourselves as unique haha.

The thing that gets me through at the moment is that when I do have growth once more I'm going to grow a ZZ Top beard

Zombienosh

It's more than likely down to stress, I've had a touch of it, managed to "de-stress" and a few months later it's grown back.

tbh

seachto7 wrote: »

Hi all,

Not looking for medical advice obviously, but interested to hear from guys who may have the same problem.

Basically on both side of my face, on the jawline, I now have blank patches. I can't grow a beard or "5 o clock shadow" anymore, because it looks like I have some weird disease!

Now I was a bit stressed out earlier this year, so am putting it down to that. But it's June, and I've felt fine for the last 4 or 5 months, especially between the ears, but the stubble shows no signs of growing back.

I'm not too bothered. I just have to keep my face clean shaven. but there are 2 or 3 obvious bare patches when the stubble starts to grow.

Does this right itself naturally over time?

I've had this for about three years and it's spread across my face, although it seems to have stopped spreading now. It started off as a tiny bald spot on my chin, and now covers most of my cheeks.

The initial parts which which went bald have started to grow back now - as others have said, they are growing back grey. This is because it's alopecia, and is caused by your immune system attacking your hair follicles - but only those which produce pigment. I've got diabetes and in the last year I've been to the doctor a number of times, a dentist and a gum specialist (for unrelated stuff that's all sorted out now) and while there I asked them about the bald spots - none of them were worried about it (and neither am I) and none of them could offer any advice, but all three said I shouldn't assume that the hair will grow back, because it might not.

It does seem to be growing back, albeit very slowly and grey. To be honest, if it spread across my whole face it'd be great as I've had five-o-clock shadow since I was about 11 and I love the clean-shaved look! It's funny tho because if you run your hand over the skin you can definitely feel the stubble, just can't see it. Mascara gives me a full beard


I just shave every day now, which is a pain, but the main problem is that the outer sides of my moustache have gone so if I don't shave, I grow a hitler moustache, which isn't great.

EDit

I have this too. Had it for about 3-4 years and, in my case, it does come and go. I usually get a 1 or 2 euro coin shaped bare patch (i currently have one on my neck just under my chin) in my stubble/beard which means i have to shave often. TBH, when i first experienced it, i was concerned, but now i'm not that bothered. In my case, the bald patches have always regrown normal coloured hair (due to my age, that includes both dark and grey hairs) after 3-6 months. According to the web it is often assigned to stress, but i can't actually say that mine appeared at times that i felt particularly stressed (or any more stressed than nomal...i have a pretty stressful job, so it is pretty much constant for me).

LaughOrDie

I thought I was the only one!

Same thing happened to me in the last year and a half. Bald patch either side of my chin where hair used to be.

It's started to grow back but grey - leaving what looks like a bald patch.

Hopefully it will go back to normal eventually.

sharper

It does sound like alopecia, if you google it you'll find pictures. For a definite diagnosis you'll have to see a doctor.

I developed large bald patches on the back of my head about two years ago which took about 6 months to fill back in. I already had male pattern baldness so it really just brought the date I needed to shave my head forward, still quite traumatic though.

The trigger can be all kinds of things including stress but it's worth getting a checkup in case you have a treatable underlying cause. For most people it just grows back after some months but you may find it reoccurs in bouts (last year for example I got bald spots in the exact same spot on each of my arms and legs)