The term alopecia comes from the Greek
Hair is one of the characteristic features of mammals. Hair is an essential speciality for protecting humans from environmental factors, producing sebum and pheromones and apocrine sweat. It affects someone's role in sexual and social relationships. Hair acts a major role for thermoregulation and it is a resource for stem cells
Diagnosis
Before making a diagnosis, your doctor will likely give you a physical exam and ask about your diet, your hair care routine, and your medical and family history. You might also have tests, such as the following:
- Blood test. This might help uncover medical conditions that can cause hair loss.
- Pull test. Your doctor gently pulls several dozen hairs to see how many come out. This helps determine the stage of the shedding process.
- Scalp biopsy. Your doctor scrapes samples from the skin or from a few hairs plucked from the scalp to examine the hair roots under a microscope. This can help determine whether an infection is causing hair loss.
- Light microscopy. Your doctor uses a special instrument to examine hairs trimmed at their bases. Microscopy helps uncover possible disorders of the hair shaft.
What are the myths about hair loss?
Myths about hair loss are widespread. Nothing in the following list is true:
- You’re losing hair because you shampoo it too much, or because you’ve colored it or gotten a perm.
- Dandruff causes permanent hair loss in women.
- Stress causes permanent hair loss in women.
- If you shave your head, your hair will grow back twice as thick.
- If you stand on your head you’ll increase circulation, stimulating hair growth.
- If you brush your hair 100 strokes a day that will make your hair healthier.
- Hats and wigs cause hair loss in women.
- Hair loss only affects intellectual women.
What are the common causes of hair loss in women?
- Hair style: Your style of hair can cause hair loss when your hair is arranged in ways that pull on your roots, like tight ponytails, braids, or corn rows. This type of hair loss is called traction alopecia. If hair follicles are damaged, the loss can be permanent.
- Vitamin deficiency.
- Dieting (rapid weight loss).
- Restrictive diets.
- Over processed scalp hair (breakage).
What causes anagen effluvium hair loss?
- Toxic substances, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy and some medications. These cause sudden hair loss that can occur anywhere on your body. It happens to hair in the growth stage. Sometimes, this type of hair loss can be permanent if your hair follicles are damaged.
What causes telogen effluvium hair loss?
- Extreme physical stress or shock to your body: This causes temporary hair loss. This category includes events like losing a lot of weight, surgery, anemia, illness and having a baby.
- Extreme emotional stress: mental illness, the death of a loved one, etc.
- An abnormal thyroid.
- Medications and supplements: blood pressure medicines, gout medicines and high doses of Vitamin A.
- Hormone changes caused by pregnancy, menopause or birth control pills.
What causes FPHL (Female Pattern Hair Loss)?
- Genes: Your family’s genes can cause thinning of hair along the top of your head.
- Aging: Hormone changes as you age can cause balding.
- Menopause: This type of hair loss often gets worse when estrogen is lost during menopause.
There are also some conditions that affect hair loss:
- Alopecia areata is an autoimmune skin disease that causes patchy hair loss on your head and possibly other places on your body. It’s usually not permanent.
Most Common Causes Of Hair Loss In Men
If you think your hairline is receding every time you look in the mirror, you’re not alone. More than half of men 50 or older have signs of hair loss. It reaches 4 out of 5 men by age 70.
Why? It's usually something you can blame on your family tree, but there are several other possible reasons.
- Genetics
Male pattern baldness -- you may hear it called androgenetic alopecia -- is triggered by the genes you got from your parents. Exactly how it is inherited isn't clear, but it does tend to run in families. So if you have close relatives who are balding, you're more likely to have it, too.
Doctors don’t fully understand why certain hormonal changes cause hair follicles to shrink, or why the balding process gradually happens in the same pattern for most men. But it usually starts with a thinning of the hairline above your temples and crown.
Depending on your family history, male pattern baldness can start as early as your teens. Not only will your hair get thinner, but it may get soft, fine, and shorter. Learn more about the steps you can take to help prevent going bald if you spot the warning signs early enough.
- Medical Issues
Hair loss could be a side effect of certain drugs you take for:
- Cancer
- Arthritis
- Depression
- Gout
- Hypertension
- Heart problems
Radiation treatment or chemotherapy can cause widespread hair loss, but usually your hair will grow back with time, once the treatments end
- Infections
Things like ringworm can create scaly patches on the scalp and bald spots. The hair usually grows back after treatment.
- Your Immune System
If you have sudden hair loss that leaves round bald spots about the size of a quarter in various places on your head, you may have a genetic condition called alopecia areata. It often begins in childhood. You’re more likely to have it if a close family member has it.
Your body’s own immune system attacks your hair follicles, causing small patches of hair to fall out. There’s no pain or sickness involved, and it’s not contagious. Your hair may grow back, but it may fall out again, too.
- Impulse Control Disorder
Some people have an urge to pull out their own hair -- from the scalp, eyebrows, or someplace else -- a chronic condition known as trichotillomania. It could affect 1-2% of adults and teenagers.
- Grooming
Wearing a ponytail, braids, or cornrows where the hair next to the scalp is pulled tightly can cause temporary hair loss called traction alopecia. In addition, hot oil treatments and perms may damage your hair follicles.
How do people prevent hair loss?
Hair-loss prevention depends on the underlying cause. Good hair hygiene with regular shampooing is a basic step but is probably of little benefit. Good nutrition, especially adequate levels of iron and vitamin B, is helpful. Treatment of underlying medical conditions like thyroid disease, anemia, and hormonal imbalances may useful in prevention
The 5 Best Vitamins for Hair Loss Prevention
What the options do people have for hair loss?
There are many options and alternative cosmetic treatments for hair loss. Some of these are listed here and include hair-fiber powders, hairpieces, synthetic wigs, human hair wigs, hair extensions, hair weaves, laser, and surgery.
- Hair-fiber powders: Colored, powdery fiber sprinkles are commercially available and may work to camouflage balding areas. These colored sprinkles have special properties that help them attach to hair and give a fuller appearance.
- Hairpieces: Among the time-honored ways to add hair temporarily are hairpieces or hair weaving, in which a mesh is attached to the remaining hair and artificial or human hair of similar color and texture is woven with existing hair. Quality varies considerably with price; also, hairpieces and weaves may stretch, oxidize, and loosen.
- Surgery or hair transplants: Surgical hair restoration approaches include various versions of hair transplantation (taking hair from the back and putting it near the front) or scalp reduction (cutting away bald areas and stitching the rest together). Transplant procedures have improved greatly in recent years. They can produce much more attractive and natural-looking results than older methods that sometimes leave a "checkerboard" or hair plug look. Many transplant patients now take Propecia to maintain or keep what they've transplanted. When considering a hair transplant,
- Low level laser devices approved by the FDA are promoted for use in male pattern hair loss. These devices are used at home without a physician's prescription
- Platelet rich plasma obtained from the processed whole blood of male patients with pattern hair loss and then reinjected into their own scalp has been suggested as an adjuvant treatment. The efficacy of this form of therapy is currently under investigation.
Best recommended proudects for hair loss treatment 2021
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