Hair Loss Concerns

Type of Hair Loss
There are several factors may influence hair loss:

    1.    Alopecia

    •    Involutional Alopecia is a natural condition in which the hair gradually thins with age. More hair follicles go into the resting phase, and the remaining hairs become shorter and less in number.

    •    Androgenic Alopecia is a genetic condition that can affect both men and women. It’s characterized by a receding hairline and gradual disappearance of hair from the crown and frontal scalp. Women with this condition, called female pattern baldness, don’t experience noticeable thinning until their 40s or later. Women experience a general thinning over the entire scalp, with the most extensive hair loss at the crown.

    •    Alopecia Areata often starts suddenly and causes patchy hair loss in children and young adults. This condition may result in complete baldness (alopecia totalis). But in about 90% of people with the condition, the hair returns within a few years.

    •    Alopecia Universalis causes all body hair to fall out, including the eyebrows, eyelashes, and pubic hair.

    •    Trichotillomania, seen most frequently in children, is a psychological disorder in which a person pulls out one’s own hair.

    •    Telogen Effluvium is temporary hair thinning over the scalp that occurs because of changes in the growth cycle of hair. A large number of hairs enter the resting phase at the same time, causing hair shedding and subsequent thinning

 

    2.    Chemotherapy/ Drugs, including chemotherapy drugs used in cancer treatment, blood thinners, beta-adrenergic blockers used to control blood pressure, and birth control pills, can cause temporary hair loss.

 

    3.    Hormones, such as abnormal levels of androgens (male hormones normally produced by both men and women)

 

    4.    Genes, from both male and female parents, may influence a person’s predisposition to male or female pattern baldness.

 

    5.    Stress, illness, and childbirth can cause temporary hair loss. Ringworm caused by a fungal infection can also cause hair loss.

 

    6.    Burns, injuries, and X-rays can cause temporary hair loss. In such cases, normal hair growth usually returns once the injury heals.

    7.    Cosmetic procedures, such as shampooing too often, perms, bleaching, and dyeing hair can contribute to overall hair thinning by making hair weak and brittle. Tight braiding, using rollers or hot curlers, and running hair picks through tight curls can also damage and break hair. However, these procedures don’t cause baldness. In most instances hair grows back normally if the source of the problem is removed. Still, severe damage to the hair or scalp sometimes causes permanent bald patches.

 

    8.    Medical conditions. Thyroid disease, lupus, diabetes, iron deficiency, eating disorders, and anemia can cause hair loss, but when the underlying condition is treated the hair will return.

 

    9.    Diet. A low-protein diet or severely calorie-restricted diet can also cause temporary hair loss. The stress of dieting and putting your body into the state of ketosis, when your body has too little glucose and turns to stored fat for energy, can also result in hair loss in some people.