Cause hair loss
Posted on October 12, 2007 - Filed Under Miscellaneous Hairloss Problems
It is common to lose hair every day and the fact is that we lose between 100-125 hairs on a typical day. The hair that falls does so at the end of the growth cycle. 10% of our hair is in a stage called “resting phase” at any given time and after a time of 2-3 months of resting, it falls down and new hair grows in that place. In some people, the loss of hair is more than normal. As we become old, men and women do have some loss of hair. This is part of growing old normally. This process is called Androgenetic Alopecia and this is the cause of hair loss in about 95% of the cases. Androgenetic Alopecia is generally seen in families and affects some people to a greater degree than others. In men it is called Male Pattern Baldness. The typical features are a thinning hairline and baldness on top of the head. In the case of women, contrarily, the baldness is not so severe even if the hair loss is severe. The loss of hair is spread out evenly all over their scalp.
Hormones have an important role to play when we discuss the problem of Androgenetic Alopecia. To put it simply, testosterone is produced both in men and women. This testosterone can be converted in to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) with the help of the enzyme called 5-alpha-eductase. DHT can lead hair follicles to shrink resulting in membranes in the scalp to thicken and turn elastic and limit blood flow. This causes atrophy of the hair follicles. As a consequence, the lost hair is not replaced. Consequently, more testosterone is produced in men than in women with more hair loss in men than in women.
Androgenetic Alopecia is the foremost cause of hair loss among individuals but it is not the only reason. There are some medical conditions like hypothyroidism and fungal infections that could be the cause of hair loss. Some medications like blood thinners, medicines for gout, birth control pills and vitamin A in excess can be the cause of loss of hair, which may be sudden or abnormal. Other conditions like crash diet, hormonal changes, chemotherapy and radiation can also become the causes of loss of hair. Other conditions like emotional stress, pregnancy or surgery may also be the cause of loss of hair and we do not usually notice the phenomenon until after a few months following the traumatic event. New hair growth becomes less because of stress as large number of hair follicles enters the resting phase and no new growth is seen.
Emotional stress, pregnancy, or surgery can also cause our hair to fall out and is usually not noticed until 3-4 months after the stressful event has taken place. Stress can cause a slowing of new hair growth because a larger number of hair follicles enter into the resting phase and no new hair growth is experienced.
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