Hair loss and Normal variation.

Hair loss and Normal variation.
A hair's natural cycle is for it to grow for several years, then fall out and be replaced. This means that at any given time, some hairs are always in the process of falling out while others are starting to grow in. Thus, it is completely normal to notice hair coming out with combing, brushing, shampooing, toweling or otherwise rubbing the scalp, as long as it is not in an alarming rate or quantity. Sometimes this natural hair loss may temporarily exceed new growth, which may cause undue alarm about possible baldness. One of the first questions we ask our clients to ask themselves about hair loss is whether their hair is truly getting thinner, or are they just noticing more normal shedding than usual. The latter situation may not require any treatment at all.

Hair loss and Scalp inflammation.

Hair loss and Scalp inflammation 
Several inflammatory skin conditions, such as eczema, seborrhea, and psoriasis, cause patches of hair loss with red and scaly skin underneath. Fungal scalp infections (also called ringworm) and bacterial infections of the hair roots (folliculitis) can also cause similar problems. Patches of hair loss without underlying redness may be due to an autoimmune condition called alopecia areata

Hair loss and Medications

Hair loss and Medications
Several medications can contribute to hair loss. Steroids and chemotherapy are among the most common culprits. Some diuretics (like sprinolactone) decrease levels of testosterone, and can reduce body hair, but usually don't have much effect on scalp hair.

Hair loss and Genetics Runing in the family

Hair loss and Genetics  Runing in the family

You can inherit the genes that cause hair loss. There is not much you can do about it. However, it’s not said that you actually will inherit these bad genes. You may end up being lucky and see your brother or sister lose hair while it doesn’t happen to you. It may even skip a generation and show up again with your children. If your father and grandfather and grandfather's father experienced hair loss, chances are you will too. In most cases, hair loss is hereditary, passed down the genes from either side parentage.

Hair loss and Health Problems

Hair loss and Health Problems

Illness can cause hair loss. The following are examples of illnesses which caused hair loss; thyroid disorders, uncontrolled diabetes, some autoimmune disorders, psoriasis of the scalp, lupus, kidney or liver disease, cancer and Crushing's disease. Generally hair regrows by itself if the illness goes away, but if the illness does not go away, chances are you'll need to regrow your hair using a safe product like Herbal-H.

Hair loss as a result of Strong Shampoos & Hair Styling Products

Hair loss  as a result of Strong Shampoos & Hair Styling Products

Strong shampoos, gel, hair spray, dying and bleaching your hair can cause hair loss. The following drugs used in some shampoo products are a big cause of hair loss: Clofibrate (Atromis-S) and Gemfibrozil (Lopid), cholestero - fighting drugs, all have been known to be a cause of hair loss. Non-natural hair growing products using chemicals may cause reactions to the scalp and actually cause hair loss. Use Herbal-H the safest most effective hair growth treatment.

Hair loss and Hormonal abnormalities.

Hair loss and Hormonal abnormalities.
A variety of hormonal problems are known to contribute to hair loss. Too much or too little thyroid hormone is a common cause of generalized thinning or loss of scalp hair. This is usually easily diagnosed with a simple blood test. Elevated testosterone tends to cause loss of scalp hair and promote growth of facial and body hair. High levels of insulin, often found in people with diabetes, can also cause hair loss. In women with polycystic ovary syndrome, there are elevations of both testosterone and insulin

Hair loss and Trauma.

Hair loss and Trauma.
Tight hair bands or cornrows can cause thinning simply by breaking off the hairs at their base. Some chemical hair treatments damage the follicles or the hair itself. Insects that attack the hair (like lice or scabies) can cause hair loss either by directly breaking the hair or by causing the person to scratch, which in turn damages the hair. Trichotillomania is a psychological condition in which people compulsively pull out or twirl their hair around a finger, sometimes

Hair loss and Psychological factors.

Psychological factors. Stress, anxiety, and depression are surprisingly common causes of thinning scalp hair, and can be especially difficult to recognize and treat. Many people don't realize how much stress or anxiety they are actually experiencing, and so will tend to minimize their level of stress when considering possible causes of hair loss. The anxiety is then compounded by the hair loss itself, so the problem becomes even worse. Some people develop an escalating cycle of anxiety, worsening thinning of the hair, and increasing worry about hair loss

Hair loss and Age Imbalanced Nutrition

Hair loss and Age Imbalanced Nutrition 

People who have severe abnormal eating habits or are on low protein diet may develop protein malnutrition. At this stage your body moves growing hair into a resting phase in order to help the body from losing protein. When this happens large amount of hair loss can occur.

Hair loss and Stress

Hair loss and Stress

A sudden shock or physical stress from surgery or chemotherapy may also cause hair loss. You could include, in this category, a lengthy or severe illness. In the case of a lengthy illness, the general condition of the hair may indicate your overall poor state of health. However, when your health is restored, the hair normally grows back on its own - without any special treatment.

Hair loss and Age

Hair loss and Age
The presence of the necessary genes and hormones is not alone sufficient to cause baldness. Even after a person has reached puberty, susceptible hair follicles must continually be exposed to the hormone over a period of time for hair loss to occur. The age at which these effects finally manifest themselves varies from one individual to another and is related to a person’s genetic composition and to the levels of testosterone in the bloodstream.

There is another time factor that is poorly understood. Male hair loss does not occur all at once nor in a steady, straight-line progression. Hair loss is characteristically cyclical. People who are losing their hair experience alternating periods of slow and rapid hair loss and even stability. Many of the reasons that hair loss rates speed up and speed down are unknown, but we do know that with age, a person’s total hair volume will decrease.

Even when there is no predisposition to genetic balding, as a patient ages, some hairs randomly begin to miniaturize (shrink in length and width) in each follicular unit. As a result, each group will contain both of full terminal hairs and miniaturized hairs (similar to the very fine hairs that occur on the rest of the body and are clinically insignificant) making the area look less full. Eventually, the miniaturized hairs are lost, and the actual follicular units are reduced in number. In all adult patients, the entire scalp undergoes this aging process so that even the donor zone is not truly permanent, but will gradually thin, to some degree, over time. Fortunately, in most people, the donor zone retains enough permanent hair that hair transplantation is a viable male hair restoration procedure even for a patient well into his 70′s.

Hair loss and Hormones

Hair loss and Hormones

Hormones are biochemical substances that are made in various glands throughout the body. These glands secrete their products directly into the bloodstream so that the chemical they make is spread throughout the body. These chemicals are very powerful so that only minute amounts of them have profound effects upon the body.

The major male sex hormone is called testosterone. Testosterone and other related hormones that have masculinizing effects are made primarily in the testicles; therefore, the hormonal levels that are seen in adults do not reached significant levels until the testicles develop and enlarge during puberty. In fact, these same hormones are the cause of many of the changes that occur in puberty; growth of phallus and scrotum, sperm production, development of a sex drive, change in the voice, growth of axillary and pubic hair, development of an adult aroma in the sweat, increase in bone and muscle mass, and change in the basic body shape.

These same hormones that cause acne and beard growth can also signal the beginning of baldness. The presence of androgens; testosterone, and its related hormone DHT, cause some follicles to regress and die. In addition to the testicles, the adrenal glands located above each of our kidneys, produce androgenic hormones, and this would be similar in both sexes. In females, the ovaries are an additional source of hormones that can affect hair.

The specific relationship between testosterone and hormonally induced hair loss in men was discovered by a psychiatrist early in this century. At that time, castration was commonly performed on patients with certain types of mental illness as it seemed to have a calming effect upon many patients and castration reduced the sex drive of patients who had no outlet for their desires. The doctor noted that the identical twin brother of one patient was bald while the mentally ill (castrated) twin had a full head of hair. The doctor decided to determine the effect of treating his patient with testosterone, which had recently become available in a purified form. He injected the hairy twin with testosterone to see what would happen. Within weeks, the hairy twin began to lose all but his wreath of permanent hair, just like his normal twin. The doctor, then, stopped giving the testosterone to see whether the process would be reversed, but the balding process continued and his patient never regained his full head of hair. It was apparent to him that eliminating testosterone will slow, or stop, further hair loss once it has begun, but it will not revive any dead follicles.

The hormone felt to be directly involved in androgenetic alopecia is actually dihydrotestosterone (DHT) rather than testosterone. DHT is formed by the action of the enzyme 5-a reductase on testosterone. DHT acts by binding to special receptor sites on the cells of the hair follicles to cause the specific changes associated with balding.

In men, 5-a reductase activity is higher in the balding area. This helps to explain the reason for the patterned alopecia that males experience. The enzyme 5-a reductase is inhibited by the hair loss medication finasteride (Propecia).

DHT decreases the length of the anagen (growing) cycle, and increases the telogen (resting) phase, so that with each new cycle the hair shaft becomes progressively smaller. In addition, DHT causes the bitemporal reshaping of hairline seen as adolescents enter adulthood, as well as patterned baldness (androgenetic alopecia). DHT also causes prostate enlargement in older men and adolescent and adult acne.

It is interesting that testosterone effects axillary and pubic hair, whereas DHT effects beard growth, hair on trunk and limbs, patterned baldness and the appearance of hair in the nose and ears (something that older men experience). Scalp hair growth, however, is not androgen dependent, only scalp hair loss depends on androgens.

Hair loss and Genes

Hair loss and Geness
Common baldness cannot occur without the presence of specific inherited genes. These genes can be passed on by either parent. A gene is a single bit of chemically encoded hereditary instruction that is located on a chromosome and actually represents a tiny segment of DNA. Chromosomes occur in pairs (humans have 23 pairs), and every individual gets one set of chromosomes from each parent. Hair loss in men is now felt to involve more than one gene. When several genes govern a trait, it is called polygenic.

Genes that are located on the X or Y-chromosomes are call sex-linked. Genes on the other 22 pairs of chromosomes are called autosomal. It is felt that the genes governing common baldness are autosomal (not sex linked). This means that the baldness trait can be inherited from the mother’s side of the family or the father’s side with equal frequency. The commonly held notion that baldness comes only from the mother’s side of the family is incorrect, although for reasons not fully understood, the predisposition inherited from an affected mother is of slightly greater importance than that inherited from an affected father.

The term, “dominant” means that only one gene of a pair is needed for the trait to show up in the individual. A “recessive” gene means that both genes need to be present in order for the trait to be expressed. The genes involved in balding from androgenetic alopecia are felt to be dominant.

Just because one has the genes for baldness, it doesn’t mean the trait will manifest itself. The ability of a gene to affect one’s characteristics, i.e. be visible in a particular individual, is called “expressivity”. Gene expression is related to a number of factors, the major ones being hormones and age, although stress and other factors can be reasons for hair loss and balding in some individuals.

It is of interest that, although genes for some types of male hair loss have been mapped, none of the genes for male pattern baldness have yet been identified. This suggests that any kind of genetic engineering to prevent common baldness is still many years away.

Hair loss Other types

 Hair loss Other types

A few different other types of hair loss that have not been discussed in other sections.

Syphilitic Alopecia

Syphilitic Alopecia is usually a manifestation or secondary syphilis. The hair loss that occurs is patchy and often described as moth eaten. Diagnosis is made by either blood test or microscopic examination and penicillin is often used to treat the condition.

Scleroderma

Sclerodema is a disease that causes fibrosis (hardening and tightening) of the skin. The hardening is caused by excessive collagen production, which causes hardening of the skin and when it appears on the scalp interferes with the normal functioning of the hair follicles and growth of the hair. The manifestation of Scleroderma can range from mild localized Scleroderma where just a few patches may appear on the skin or it can be severe and affect the internal organs as well. This type of Scleroderma is known as Systematic Scleroderma. Sclerodema is much more common in women with the onset usually occurring between the ages of 40-60.

Tinea Capitis

Tinea Capitis is another name for ringworm, which appears on the scalp. Tinea Capitis is highly contagious and may spread throughout an entire family, school or kindergarten. It can also be passed from animals to humans as well as between people. The main symptoms or signs of Tinea Capitis is scaling and redness in a round or uneven area of hair loss. This is where the Tinea is digesting the keratin of the hair. These patches of hair loss slowly expand as the Tinea spreads. The most commonly used treatment for ringworm is an anti fungal agent which is taken once a day for a period of between four and twelve weeks. Nizoral Shampoo (Ketaconazole 2%) may occasionally be prescribed in addition to oral treatment to reduce the surface.

Drugs Prescribed that can cause hair loss

Prescribed Drugs that can cause hair loss

Some drugs have been reported as causing hair loss in some individuals. While not everyone will experience hair loss some drugs are more likely to cause hair loss than others.

The following is list of some drugs that have been reported to have a side effect of hair loss:

Alloppurinol ( for the treatment of Gout)

Heparin ( blood thinner)

Coumarin (blood thinner)

Clofibrate (Cholesterol lowering drug)

Gemfibrozil (Cholesterol lowering drug)

The above drugs are only a few of the drugs that have been reported as contributing towards hair loss. If you suspect that prescription drugs that you are taking are causing hair loss you should discuss this with your doctor.

Hair loss which is Self Induced

Hair loss which is Self Induced

Some damage to the hair is self inflicted sometimes consciously or unconsciously the two main types of self induced hair loss are Trichotillomania and Traction Alopecia.

Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania is self induced hair loss which results from the continuous pulling or plucking of the hair. It occurs most commonly among young children, adolescents and women and effects twice as many females as males. The hair is often pulled out in distinct patches on the scalp however some individuals also pull out eyebrows and eyelashes.

The treatment for Trichotillomania often involves counseling or psychiatric help, however in some cases an antidepressant may be prescribed.

Traction Alopecia

Traction Alopecia is usually caused by continuous and excessive pulling on the hair due to various types of hairstyling. Ponytails, buns, braiding and cornrows often result in a continuous pulling on the hair. This traction gradually results in hair loss. If this type of traction and hair loss continues for an excessively long period of time then the hair loss may become permanent. Generally however a change in hairstyle that reduces the traction on the hair and hair follicle is all that is required in the treatment of Traction Alopecia.

Telogen Effluvium

Sudden stress relate hairs loss which appears as thinning throughout the whole scalp.

Telogen Effluvium occurs when sudden or severe stress causes an increase in the shedding of the hair. In Telogen effluvium a sudden or stressful event can cause the hair follicles to prematurely stop growing and enter into a resting phase. The hair will then stay in the resting phase for about 3 months after which time a large amount of hair will be shed. Often the person involved will have recovered from the event before the hair loss occurs. In most cases the hair loss is temporary and the hair soon recovers. However in some cases the hair loss continues until the underlying cause is fixed.

Cancer Treatment Hair Loss:: Anagen Effluvium

Cancer Treatment Hair Loss:: Anagen Effluvium

Anagen Effluvium is the sudden hair loss which occurs as a result of chemicals or radiation, such as the hair loss that results during certain types of Chemotherapy or Radiation Treatment.

In Anagen Effluvium the hair does not enter a resting stage as is does with Telogen Effluvium. The hair loss is usually sudden occurring 1 to 3 weeks after expose to the chemicals or radiation has occurred. Cancer treatments such as Chemotherapy and Radiation Treatments are the most common causes of Anagen Effluvium. However exposure to toxic chemicals such as Thallium and Arsenic may also produce a sudden loss of hair.

Chemotherapy is used in the treatment of cancer to destroy the cancer cells which divide rapidly within the body. One side effect of this cancer treatment however is that it can also stop the growth of the hair and may cause the shedding of hair. In some cases up to 90% of the hair may be affected and often the remaining 10% was already in the resting phase before the treatment was started. Some hair follicles do not shed the hair but produce a narrower weaker hair which breaks off easily.

Anagen Effluvium caused by Chemotherapy is only a temporary condition and in most cases hair growth will return to normal once treatment is finished. Many people even claim that their hair grows back healthier and thicker than before. Sometimes when the hair grows back the texture can be different. Some people who have had curly hair have claimed that their hair has grown back straight and sometimes even the color can become different. The important thing to remember is that this hair loss is not permanent and once treatment is stopped the hair follicles will recover and the hair will grow back.

Hair Loss Causes and Risk Factors

Hair Loss Causes and Risk Factors

A number of causes might be identified. These include:

Childbirth. When a woman is pregnant, her hair continues to grow. The usual 50 to 100 hairs per day are not shed. However, after she delivers her baby, many hairs enter the resting stage of the hair cycle at once. Within two to three months after delivery, these hairs may all fall out together and be seen as large amounts of hair coming out in their brushes and combs.

High fever, severe infection, major surgery, significant life stressor. From four weeks to three months after a person has a high fever, severe infection, major surgery, or significant life stressor such as death in the family, he or she may be shocked to see a lot of hair falling out. This condition usually corrects itself but may require treatment.

Thyroid disease. Both an overactive and underactive thyroid can cause hair loss. The hair loss associated with thyroid disease can be reversed with proper treatment.

Inadequate protein in diet. Some vegetarians, people who go on crash diets that exclude protein, and those with severely abnormal eating habits, may develop protein malnutrition. When this happens, a person's body will help to save protein by shifting growing hairs into the resting phase. Massive hair shedding can occur two to three months later. Hair can then be pulled out by the roots. This condition can be reversed by eating the proper amount of protein.

Medications. Prescription drugs can cause temporary hair shedding in a small percentage of people. Examples of such drugs are blood thinners, some drugs used to treat gout and arthritis, acne, or psoriasis, and some medications for heart problems.

Cancer treatment drugs. Most drugs used in chemotherapy will cause hair cells to stop dividing. Hair shafts become thin and break off as they exit the scalp. This can occur one to three weeks after beginning chemotherapy. The patient may lose all of his hair, but this will usually re-grow after treatment ends.

Birth control pills. Women who lose their hair when taking birth control pills usually have an inherited tendency towards hair thinning.

Low serum iron. Iron deficiency sometimes produces hair loss. Low iron can be detected by laboratory tests and corrected with iron pills.

Alopecia areata. In this type of hair loss, hair usually falls out, resulting in totally smooth, round patches about the size of a coin or larger. This disease may affect children, women or men of any age.

Androgenic alopecia. This is the most common type of hair loss and is often called "male- or female-pattern baldness". The hair usually thins out first in the front of the scalp and moves progressively to the back and top of the head. It tends to be progressive. This type of hair loss also runs in families.

Infections. Ringworm, or tinea capitus, is a common fungal infection in children. Patches of hair may be lost and replaced with pink scaly skin.

See a doctor if you experience hair loss at the same time as you experience the following symptoms: skin problems, breathing problems, poor appetite or unexplained weight loss, vomiting, fever, pain, constipation or diarrhea.

 

Definition of Hair Loss

Hair Loss Definition of

Each hair grows in cycles it grows, rests, and then falls out. Usually, this cycle repeats approximately yearly. At any time, about ninety percent of a person's scalp hair is growing, a phase that lasts between two and six years. Ten percent of the scalp hair is in a resting phase that lasts between two and three months. At the end of its resting stage, the hair goes through a shedding phase.

Shedding 50 to 100 hairs a day is considered normal. When a hair is shed, it is replaced by a new hair from the same follicle located just beneath the skin surface. Scalp hair grows about one-half inch a month.

Hair is made up of a form of protein, the same material that is found in fingernails and toenails. Everyone, regardless of age, should eat an adequate amount of protein to maintain normal hair production. Protein is found in meat, chicken, fish, eggs, some cheese, dried beans, tofu, grains, and nuts.

Abnormal hair loss can be due to many different causes, but about 50 percent of the population experience normal hair loss by the time they reach 50. People who notice their hair shedding in large amounts after combing or brushing, or whose hair becomes thinner or falls out should consult a dermatologist.