Branchoria Cash Landrum Cash Landrum

Follow the witnesses, medical claims, military mystery and unresolved evidence.

Within Hair Loss

What Could the Pattern of Hair Loss Reveal?

Patch shape, scalp distribution, skin damage and regrowth would matter more diagnostically than the sheer amount of hair lost.

41 sources 3 graphics
Preview for What Could the Pattern of Hair Loss Reveal?

On this page

  • Patchy versus diffuse shedding
  • Scalp skin findings and follicle damage
  • Regrowth patterns and diagnostic limits

Introduction

Within the Cash–Landrum incident, the pattern of Betty Cash’s reported hair loss is potentially more informative than the simple fact that hair was lost. In radiation medicine, clinicians assess not only when hair falls out but also where it occurs, whether it is sharply localised or diffuse, whether the scalp itself shows radiation injury, and how the hair later regrows. Those features help distinguish radiation-induced epilation from autoimmune alopecia, stress-related shedding and other causes. In the Cash–Landrum case, however, the publicly available record contains very little detailed description of the scalp findings. That absence is one of the main reasons the hair-loss evidence remains disputed: the feature that could have been most diagnostically useful was never documented in sufficient detail for independent assessment.[merckmanuals.com]merckmanuals.comMerck Manuals AlopeciaMerck ManualsAlopecia - Dermatology - Merck Manual Professional Edition…

Loss Pattern illustration 1
Explanatory illustration 1

What Could the Pattern of Hair Loss Reveal?

Radiation-induced hair loss follows recognisable clinical patterns because hair follicles respond to absorbed dose in a predictable way. Dermatologists therefore look beyond the diagnosis of “alopecia” and ask several practical questions:

  • Was the loss confined to one irradiated area or spread across the whole scalp?
  • Were the edges sharply defined or irregular?
  • Did damaged skin coincide with the bald areas?
  • Was regrowth complete, partial or absent?
  • Did the distribution match the reported direction of exposure?

For the Cash–Landrum incident, these questions cannot be answered confidently because contemporary public descriptions focus on the amount of hair lost rather than its anatomical distribution. Photographs circulated years later show significant thinning, but they do not establish whether the original loss was focal, diffuse or mixed, nor do they document its earliest stages.[Wikipedia]WikipediaCash–Landrum incidentCash–Landrum incident

15:10

The Cash-Landrum UFO Mystery

Channel: Spektator · Views: 283.1K · Uploaded: August 2024 · Length: 15 minutes

Open on YouTube

Patchy Versus Diffuse Shedding

The distinction between patchy and diffuse hair loss lies at the centre of the radiation debate.

Radiation exposure to a limited area of the scalp commonly produces localised epilation that reflects the geometry of the exposure. Modern examples include fluoroscopy-related radiation injuries, where patients often develop sharply bordered rectangular or otherwise well-defined bald patches corresponding to the radiation field. In therapeutic radiotherapy, hair loss similarly tends to mirror the treated area unless the entire scalp receives radiation.[nih.gov]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPubMed Central (PMC)Radiation-Induced Alopecia after Endovascular Embolization under Fluoroscopy - PMCDecember 15, 2016…Published: December 15, 2016

By contrast, diffuse shedding across most of the scalp has a much broader differential diagnosis. It may occur after systemic illness, severe physiological stress, chemotherapy, whole-scalp irradiation or certain autoimmune disorders. Diffuse loss therefore carries much less diagnostic specificity than a sharply localised radiation field.[Merck Manuals]merckmanuals.comMerck Manuals AlopeciaMerck ManualsAlopecia - Dermatology - Merck Manual Professional Edition…

The difficulty in the Cash–Landrum case is that publicly available medical discussions do not provide a detailed map of where the alopecia occurred. Later retellings often describe “clumps” of hair falling out, but losing hair in clumps does not itself indicate whether the resulting baldness was patchy or diffuse. Without contemporaneous scalp diagrams, dermatology photographs or specialist descriptions, the distribution cannot be reconstructed reliably.[Wikipedia]WikipediaCash–Landrum incidentCash–Landrum incident

Loss Pattern illustration 2
Explanatory illustration 2

Why Scalp Skin Findings Matter

Hair loss alone is only part of the diagnostic picture. Radiation capable of injuring hair follicles frequently affects nearby skin as well.

Clinicians evaluating cutaneous radiation injury look for findings such as:[cdc.gov]cdc.govCutaneous Radiation Injury (CRI): Information for Clinicians | Radiation Emergencies | CDC…

  • erythema (redness) that develops after a latent period;
  • blistering or ulceration within the irradiated region;
  • pigmentation changes;
  • loss of sweat or sebaceous gland function;
  • later skin thinning or fibrosis; and
  • permanent versus temporary follicle damage.

These associated findings help determine whether hair follicles were damaged by ionising radiation rather than by an unrelated process.[CDC]cdc.govCutaneous Radiation Injury (CRI): Information for Clinicians | Radiation Emergencies | CDC…

Cash unquestionably reported significant skin symptoms, including painful blistering, but the available public summaries do not clearly correlate those skin lesions with specific areas of hair loss. Nor do they include detailed dermatological descriptions of the scalp itself, such as whether bald regions showed scarring, ulceration, scaling, follicular destruction or otherwise normal-appearing skin. That missing correlation substantially limits retrospective diagnosis.[Wikipedia]WikipediaCash–Landrum incidentCash–Landrum incident

1:09:11

Did Aliens Cause This Family Health Problems? | Cash-Landrum Incident

Channel: Red Web · Views: 12.7K · Uploaded: May 2022 · Length: 1 hour 9 minutes

Open on YouTube

What Regrowth Could Have Shown

The course of regrowth can also provide diagnostic clues.

Temporary radiation epilation usually begins after a delay of several weeks and is followed by gradual regrowth over subsequent months if the follicle stem cells survive. Higher absorbed doses increase the likelihood of permanent alopecia because follicular structures are destroyed rather than temporarily arrested.[nih.gov]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPubMed Central (PMC)Radiation-Induced Alopecia after Endovascular Embolization under Fluoroscopy - PMCDecember 15, 2016…Published: December 15, 2016

Other causes of hair loss may show different recovery patterns. Alopecia areata often produces patchy regrowth with fine depigmented hairs before normal pigmentation returns, while stress-related telogen effluvium generally allows widespread regrowth once the triggering event resolves. These patterns are not individually diagnostic, but they contribute to an overall clinical assessment.[Merck Manuals]merckmanuals.comMerck Manuals AlopeciaMerck ManualsAlopecia - Dermatology - Merck Manual Professional Edition…

In the Cash–Landrum case, publicly available accounts acknowledge substantial hair loss but provide only limited, sometimes inconsistent, information about its long-term regrowth. Because systematic follow-up dermatological examinations have not been published, later recovery cannot be used confidently either to support or to exclude radiation injury.

Loss Pattern illustration 3
Explanatory illustration 3

Why the Pattern Evidence Remains Inconclusive

The debate persists not because hair loss lacks medical relevance, but because the most informative observations are largely absent from the public record.

Independent reviewers have noted that the available medical summaries do not include detailed scalp mapping, trichoscopy (magnified examination of hair follicles), scalp biopsy findings directed at the alopecia, or serial dermatology photography documenting how the pattern evolved. Later critiques have also highlighted that early hospital records reportedly documented little or no obvious hair loss at admission, while more pronounced alopecia developed later, leaving the distribution at its onset uncertain.[Wikipedia]WikipediaCash–Landrum incidentCash–Landrum incident

As a result, neither side of the radiation dispute can rely heavily on hair-loss pattern alone. Supporters of a radiation explanation can point to the existence of significant alopecia developing after the reported encounter, while sceptics note that the publicly documented pattern lacks the anatomical detail normally required to distinguish radiation injury from other recognised causes of hair loss. The absence of precise scalp findings therefore weakens the evidential value of one of the incident’s most frequently cited medical features.

12:45

Cash-Landrum UFO Encounter or Something Scarier?

Channel: The Mysteria Archive · Views: 4.6K · Uploaded: December 2025 · Length: 12 minutes

Open on YouTube

Amazon book picks

Further Reading

Books and field guides related to What Could the Pattern of Hair Loss Reveal?. Use these as the next step if you want deeper reading beyond the article.

BookCover for Fitzpatrick's Dermatology

Fitzpatrick's Dermatology

By Klaus Wolff, Lowell A Goldsmith et al.

The must-have reference in dermatology--now completely revised and updated in full color! In no other source but Fitzpatrick's can you fi...

See on Amazon
Browse more on Amazon:Andrews' Diseases Skin: ClinicalFitzpatrick's DermatologyRadiobiology for the Radiologist

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

eBay marketplace picks

Marketplace Samples

Live-tested eBay searches with available results related to this page.

UsingUSA

Selected fromUFO poster oneBay.co.uk.

Browse more oneBay.co.uk

Example items shown for inspiration; availability and pricing can change. Branchoria may earn a commission if you purchase through outbound eBay links.

Endnotes

1. Source: cdc.gov
Link:https://www.cdc.gov/radiation-emergencies/hcp/clinical-guidance/cri.html

Source snippet

Cutaneous Radiation Injury (CRI): Information for Clinicians | Radiation Emergencies | CDC...

2. Source: Wikipedia
Title: Cash–Landrum incident
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash%E2%80%93Landrum_incident

3. Source: youtube.com
Title: Cash-Landrum UFO Encounter or Something Scarier?
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_3CfT4I9nk

Source snippet

The Cash - Landrum UFO Encounter | Dark Mysteries...

4. Source: youtube.com
Title: The Cash
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6sV0LIy7GI

Source snippet

Head and Neck Cancer | Radiotherapy Side Effects | Hair loss...

5. Source: merckmanuals.com
Title: Merck Manuals Alopecia
Link:https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/dermatologic-disorders/hair-disorders/alopecia

Source snippet

Merck ManualsAlopecia - Dermatology - Merck Manual Professional Edition...

6. Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5198088/

Source snippet

PubMed Central (PMC)Radiation-Induced Alopecia after Endovascular Embolization under Fluoroscopy - PMCDecember 15, 2016...

Published: December 15, 2016

7. Source: jamanetwork.com
Link:https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/fullarticle/2768761

8. Source: merckmanuals.com
Title: Merck Manuals Table: Some Causes of Alopecia-Merck Manual Professional Edition
Link:https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/multimedia/table/some-causes-of-alopecia

9. Source: wikidisc.org
Title: Cash–Landrum incident | Wiki Disc
Link:https://www.wikidisc.org/wiki/Cash%E2%80%93Landrum_incident

Source snippet

Cash–Landrum incident | WikiDiscJuly 1, 2026 — CASH–LANDRUM INCIDENT [Input] Add languages Add links * Page * Discussion [Input] English...

Published: July 1, 2026

10. Source: merckmanuals.com
Title: Alopecia (Hair Loss)
Link:https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/skin-disorders/hair-disorders/alopecia-hair-loss

11. Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482293/

12. Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10970573/

13. Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537000/

14. Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7407362/

15. Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5803854/

16. Source: merckmanuals.com
Title: Alopecia Areata
Link:https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/dermatologic-disorders/hair-disorders/alopecia-areata?ruleredirectid=747

17. Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8138194/

18. Source: niams.nih.gov
Title: alopecia areata
Link:https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/alopecia-areata

19. Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19514838/

20. Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19968597/

21. Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1607410/

22. Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9606632/

Additional References

23. Source: thisunexplaineduniverse.com
Link:https://www.thisunexplaineduniverse.com/articles/cash-landrum-incident

Source snippet

The Cash-Landrum Incident: The UFO That Left [Medical Records]({{ 'medical-record/' | relative_url }}) | This Unexplained UniverseJuly 28, 2026 — UFOs & UAPs THE CASH-LANDRUM INCI...

Published: July 28, 2026

24. Source: aliencouncil.com
Title: 00027 cash landrum 1980
Link:https://aliencouncil.com/cases/00027-cash-landrum-1980/

Source snippet

Cash–Landrum incident — 29 December 1980 · The CouncilJuly 16, 2026 — CASE #00027 · CASE OF RECORD CASH–LANDRUM INCIDENT — 29 DECEMBER 19...

Published: July 16, 2026

25. Source: aad.org
Link:https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/causes/18-causes

26. Source: ccjm.org
Link:https://www.ccjm.org/content/88/3/173

27. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360301626003779

28. Source: audible.co.uk
Link:https://www.audible.co.uk/podcast/The-[Cash-Landrum-UFO-Incident

29. Source: youtube.com
Title: Did Aliens Cause This Family Health Problems? | Cash-Landrum Incident
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFz7hXTJDkU

Source snippet

The Cash-Landrum UFO Mystery...

30. Source: medlineplus.gov
Title: Alopecia areata: Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia
Link:https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001450.htm

31. Source: youtube.com
Title: The Cash-Landrum UFO Mystery
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2HsOUTzyWA

Source snippet

Cash-Landrum UFO Encounter or Something Scarier?...

32. Source: dermatology.smhs.gwu.edu
Title: hair loss drug trump took years now absent his medical records
Link:https://dermatology.smhs.gwu.edu/news/hair-loss-drug-trump-took-years-now-absent-his-medical-records