Has anyone heard about hair loss due to keeping birds?

[Steph]

Perhaps it is a silly question but my hair and eyebrows have been falling out, the doctor has put it down to stress but a friend told me about someone she knew who had a parrot and their hair had been falling out, apparently it was caused by having the bird!! She re homed it and her hair grew back. It seems a little far fetched to me and I can't find anything on the internet to support this but I was just wondering if anyone on here had ever heard of anything like this?

[linda040899]

That's a new one on me, Steph!

I know that keeping birds long term can affect your breathing/lungs, as well as your eye-sight but I've never heard of hair loss as a result of having a parrot companion. I think a second medical opinion about what's happening is definitely in order.

[OOwl]

Hair loss in women, not associated with disease, chemo, or stress, is mostly attributed to hormones and genetic predisposition as one ages. I suppose one could have a severe allergy to parrot dust that could cause an inflammation severe enough to cause hair loss, but then you'd have redness, itching, etc. If the hair is just falling out, I bet it's more related to the other factors. All I know is that I would not rehome one of my parrots due to my hair loss. I'm sure they'd still love me if I was bald. :)

[Steph]

Thank you! I would like to say you put my mind at ease but I didn't really believe it anyway, and don't worry, I was not thinking of rehoming Sookie : )

[bookworm0550]

Mmm....I still have a lot of hair so...I don't believe that. And I work in a hair salon so if this were really true, I'm pretty sure I would have known by now.