Abnormal Hair Loss




From the beginning of a person’s life, his or her hair grows, rests, and eventually falls out, being replaced by new strands. About 90% of all hair is in the growing phase, which takes between two to six years. Every month, hair grows approximately half an inch. After it reaches certain point, hair goes to resting phase where it prepares to be pushed out by a new strand coming from the same follicle. This period lasts for about two to three months.

It is normal to lose 50-100 stands a day. At different points of their lives people come across hair loss due to various reasons, but by the age of 50 half of the world’s population experiences normal hair loss. If a person is bothered by their hair situation (i.e., it is shedding, becoming thinner and large amounts of it are left on their brush) he or she needs to consult a specialist.

Abnormal hair loss has a positive side: it is temporary and in many cases can be fixed with time, and without any medical treatment. However, it should be remembered that this correction usually takes several weeks or months after he or she encountered the reason that caused it.

The main reasons for abnormal hair loss are:

•    Pregnancy and childbirth. When a woman carries a child, she experiences hormonal changes. As a result, more hair stays in the growing phase making it look thicker. After the delivery, her hormones return to normal and all the hair that stayed ‘overtime’ enters the resting phase and falls out. In half a year, the percentage of growing and resting hair levels itself out and the woman has the same amount of hair she had before pregnancy.
•    Birth control medications. Not everybody who takes them has problems with their hair, but if the trouble comes up, it is necessary to consult with a doctor and choose a different way of contraception.
•    Lack of protein. Hair is made out of protein which also forms nails. When a person does not eat enough of it, hair falls out and nails become softer and more fragile. Protein can be found in meat, eggs, fish, cheese, beans, tofu, nuts and grains. As a rule vegetarians can experience this problem if their diet is not balanced well enough, including a sufficient amount of protein-containing products.
•    Severe health problems, such as high fever, surgery, bad infection, stress, etc., or any type of life threatening situation causes the body to work abnormally, therefore, after a few months these people can expect to notice more hair on their brush than usual.
•    Prescription drugs. It is almost the same thing as allergies; some people are sensitive to them, the others are not. A certain percent of people loses their hair after taking blood thinners, medications used to treat gout, arthritis, psoriasis, acne or heart problems.
•    Thyroid disease. Both an underactive and overactive thyroid may stop hair growth and start the shedding process. Thyroid treatment automatically fixes hair loss.
•    Chemotherapy. The procedure makes the hair stop dividing; it becomes weak and thin and eventually falls out. If the previously named reasons cause shedding and no bald spots, after chemotherapy the person loses all of their scalp hair. The good news is, it grows back after the treatment is completed.
•    Androgenic alopecia. This disease usually runs in families and is considered to be the most wide spread abnormal type of hair loss. It is also called “male- or female-pattern baldness”.  This is identified when the hair starts thinning out at the front slowly going to the top and back of the head.
•    Tinea capitus. Many people know it simply as “ringworm”. This is a common fungal infection that usually afflicts children.
•    Lack of iron. Sometimes, a specialist will advise a patient to get a laboratory test to see if their body receives enough iron, because it impacts hair more than other minerals. Iron pills and products full of iron can help fix this problem.

Terry Holman

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Posted on February 24, 2009 
Filed Under Hair Loss, Hair Loss Conditions, Hair Loss Reasons

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