Thyroid Problems & Thinning Eyebrows

Thinning eyebrow hair is often one of the many side effects of hypothyroidism, a hormonal disease effecting the thyroid and pituitary glands and their production of thyroid hormones. Lowered thyroid hormones leave the body unable to perform proper metabolism and other functions, creating a plethora of health problems including, but not limited to, those effecting skin and body hair. Often the outer third of the eyebrow is completely absent in hypothyroid patients. Raising thyroid hormone levels can sometimes help eyebrow hair to grow back, and cosmetic procedures can be performed to alleviate self-consciousness in people who have lost their eyebrows.

If you are losing your eyebrow hair and experiencing other bodily hair loss, dry, itchy skin, excessive chilliness, overweight, sluggishness, loss of libido and depression, you may be suffering from thyroid problems. There are other diseases that are mimicked by thyroid dysfunction, so check with your doctor to be sure.

Several methods are used to diagnose thyroid disease.

Conventional blood tests are the most common diagnostic tool. Ask to have additional tests included with the basic thyroid profiles including Free T3 and T4. Even slight abnormalities in these hormone levels will likely lead to a diagnosis of thyroid disease.

Low body temperature is also an indicator of thyroid disease. Your alternative health-care practitioner may direct you to take your basal body temperature over a period of weeks to ascertain a baseline. Many hypothyroid patients have an average baseline body temperature ranging from 92-to-94 degrees.

Clinical signs are also indicators for thyroid problems. Some alternative practitioners gather symptoms in groups, including how a patient feels overall. The holistic picture allows the practitioner to make an assessment of the whole person based on clinical symptoms, along with basal temperature and blood-test results to form a proper diagnosis.

Traditional treatment for low thyroid is Synthroid or its generic, Levothyroxine. In some patients this medicine is all that is needed and in time, eyebrow hair thickens and grows back as other bodily functions are restored. Depending on the cause of the low thyroid, Levothyroxine supplementation may be necessary indefinitely.

T4 supplementation in the form of Levothyroxine is not always effective or well tolerated alone, and other medicines must be included in treatment plans. The addition of another thyroid hormone, T3, also known as Triiodo-L-Thyronine, is added to enhance the effects of T4. T3 can be administered in a drug called Cytomel or be compounded especially to the individual patient’s needs. Some alternative-minded doctors prescribe Armour Thyroid pills, a derivative from pig thyroid gland, which contains all thyroid hormones and effectively restores health.

Other alternative treatments for restoring people to health who suffer thyroid problems are homeopathy and Chinese medicine. Both use herbs or remedies that must be properly prescribed by qualified practitioners. A full case must be taken and self treatment is not advised.

In the event that eyebrow hair does not thicken or grow back after adequate treatment for thyroid disease and a reasonable amount of time has been allowed, permanent makeup can be used to replicate the look of eyebrows. Permanent makeup is a form of tattoo that is applied by trained aestheticians who are medically certified to apply color and design to an area of the body where original features have been lost, like the eyebrows, lips or nipples. Confidence and self-esteem can be returned to patients who have lost their eyebrows due to thyroid disease.