Archive for February, 2010
Biotin Hair Loss – What Causes This?
Hair on the human head is an essential part of dressing. If you thought that what matters is only the clothing, you are dead wrong. Consider placing a wig on the head of a bald individual, it coes not matter who, whether man or woman. Just give it a try now or today. Surprise! Even the most ugly man or woman (depending on the beholder’s eyes) will be transformed. This is the power of hair on the head (I am not about hair on other parts of the body).
With the obvious importance of hair on the head, any loss would be devastating. First for the woman, and also for the man, depending on the man’s self-awareness. Yet millions of people suffer from hairloss every year. It does not only rob them of beauty or handsomeness, but to majority, also the loss of self-esteem. This is simply a warning that you must protect your hair.
There are several causes of hairloss. Some of the common causes include genetic makeup of the individual. If either of your parents had a clean shave head, then you should not be surprised at lack of hair on your head. Another common cause is hormonal imbalance. This is common among women who are expecting due to the rise in progesterone.
Thryroid hormones are also known to lead loss of to hair as is the case in hyperthyroidism. Some medications with severe side effects such as those used in cancer treatment can cause loss of hair. Other causes include
The most common yet unknown cause is dietary deficiencies of minerals and vitamins required for formation of hair. This is a common factor especially among those with protein malnutrition. The protein inadequacy will cause hair loss due to lack of sulphur binding amino acids such as cystein. Unknown to many, is the fact that the availability of the protein and essential amino acids is not a guarantee that the hair thinning will not occur. There is need for adequate supply of biotin.
Biotin is one of the micro-nutrients that are required in very small quantities. It is derived from the foods such as soya bean, brewer’s yeast, sunflower seeds. Therefore a deficit of this vitamin will occur due to inadequate dietary supply. It can also occur due to high protein diet which binds the vitamin. High acidity in the alimentary canal will also lead to low absorption of the vital vitamin.
Besides loss of hair, other signs of inadequate supply of the vitamin is skin rash and high heart rate. The most effective remedy for biotin hairloss is to increase the uptake of the foods that supply the vitamin.
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Preventing Hair Loss – How to Stop Alopecia
Hair loss or alopecia as the condition is known in medical terms affects millions of people around the world. Studies show that the likelihood of any of us losing hair is much higher than most of us realise. In fact as we age, more than two-thirds of us will have started losing hair by the time we are turning 60. Men are more affected by this condition than women but the number of women affected is also quiet high.
There are several causes of alopecia even though the certainty of these varies with some being more mythical than real. Some of those that are not in much doubt include genetics, the body’s autoimmune disorder, and side effects of medical procedures. Stress, some fungal infections and the lack of certain essential body nutrients such as iron and vitamins may also result in alopecia.
Efforts towards preventing loss of hair therefore must address all known causes of this condition be it hereditary of otherwise. The most common type of alopecia is androgenetic alopecia which involves male and female pattern loss. This condition is genetic and is triggered by a powerful sex hormone called dihydrotestosterone or in short DHT. Prevention of this condition therefore involves using drugs that target this hormone in a manner that inhibits its negative effect on hair.
Alopecia areata is another condition in which patches of hair are lost when the immune cells of the body attack follicles and prevent growth. The reason this happens is not know but on a positive note, this condition usually remedies it self within a few months for most people. As mentioned earlier, chemotherapy can lead to hair loss. This is because hair cells grow fast and therefore become targeted by chemotherapy which kills fast growing cells. This type of hair loss is also fortunately temporary and usually hair re-grows once treatment is stopped. The use of a cold cap during chemotherapy can also help prevent losing hair altogether.
In case you notice that losing hair is beginning to take place. It is important that you take early steps to address the problem. This is because some causes of alopecia can be prevented and the processed stopped. What we eat is important especially ensuring that we have enough vitamins and iron. It may be necessary to get supplements of these vitamins if what we take in food is not working effectively or being well absorbed. Watching our life style and reducing stress will also help prevent alopecia. Finally, the need to seek medical support in both diagnosis and treatment is very critical. Do not get into any form of preventive or curative procedures without first consulting a doctor.
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Hair Loss Treatment – How to Increase Hair on Your Scalp
For millions of people, the prospect of finding an effective hair loss treatment means a better body image and a revived social life. The loss of hair through the natural process of balding or as a result of medical procedures such as chemotherapy can have devastating effects. Research has shown that many people suffer psychological trauma when they lose hair which may result in withdrawal, and inability to express themselves. Some also fail to regain their previous self image even when the hair grows back.
Hair loss can start early for some and both men and women can experience this problem. Besides the loss of hair on the head, one may also lose eye lashes which may have been a feature that makes them very attractive. Hair loss may also occur on the rest of the body either partially or fully.
People have devised different ways of dealing with hair loss. Some simply cover it with a cap or tie a piece of cloth constantly on their head. Some will opt for a wig while others may simply embrace it and go for what in my area is called the Jordan way – shaving the head clean. All these options may work for you except that they have their own challenges. These may vary from the need to visit a barber regularly and in a timely manner regardless of where you are to the discomfort of having something constantly on your head.
Wearing a cap can also increase hair loss, though we will not go into detail on that here, and wigs that are designed to fit your head and appear as natural as possible may be rather expensive. Of course there is also the aspect of needing to remove the covering either in places of worship, or indoors depending on cultural considerations.
Is it possible to simply get an effective hair loss treatment that does not involve all these cumbersome techniques? If you could just embrace your condition, that would be the easiest route. But that is not viable for many. And so, there are several treatment options that you may consider. With the discovery of the role played by a hormone called dihydrotestosterone or DHT in causing baldness, it became possible to target it in the search for effective treatment.
Most drugs based on this understanding either inhibit formation of DHT or prevent it from binding with hair follicles. These drugs have achieved some remarkable success in re-growing hair for some patients and two of them, Finasteride and Minoxidil are approved in the US. Treatment may also involve dietary changes, reducing stress levels or cosmetic transplant surgery.
Whatever option for hair loss treatment you want to explore, it is important to get the right advice from a doctor so that you do not lose money on unproven treatments.
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Alopecia in Men – The A to Z
Now, here are the facts:
What is alopecia? This scientific name has nothing to do with a Spanish type of food, rather, it is a terminology used to refer to a clean and smooth scalp. It’s a barren head that looks like the Saharan desert with little hope of hair growing. Worse still, is that some of the types of the alopecia present like some armature art work, this is where the baldness comes with very ugly spotty patches.
What are the causes of alopecia in men? The greatest driver of baldness in men, is the male hormone testosterone and androgens. It is almost like saying that to be a complete or real man, then you must have the largest of the bald heads. After all, the extent of the baldness is in most cases a measure of the concentration of the male hormones. It is just like other male features such as prominent adam’s apple and the deep voice. Let us make it clear here, not having a bald head does mean that you are a lesser man!
You will find bald heads in women too, would this mean that they too have these male hormones? Could be true to an extent, but it also means that there are other causes of hair loss other than the male hormones. These other causes of bald headedness affect both men and women.
You need to watch out for hyper or hypo thyroidism. These refer to too much or too little production thyroid hormone. This is the hormone that is responsible for metabolism or energy making and utilization process. Energy in human body is like energy in a vehicle. If it is not here, the automatic transmission engine will switch off and not even the side mirrors would make a move. When thyroid hormones are adequately supplied, then the body would lack the ability to form structures such as a functional skin. This means that hair growth would be disturbed.
Other causes of hair loss in men include fungal infection, trauma, cancer treatment and poor diet.
What can men do to prevent or manage hair loss? Reversing the causes of hair loss is the key to preventing or treating hair loss. It means that one can have hormone therapy or have a balanced diet to supply raw materials for manufacture of hair strands. If you are not sure, seek advice from your dermatologist.
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Balding and Hair Loss – Tips on Preventing Thyroid Related Alopecia
Hair loss is not very new to man in this planet. Historical documents stretching as far as the Egyptian civilization have records of attempts to keep away bal d head. It is a subject that concerns many disciplines including medicine, cosmetic, beauty and care, pharmacology among others.
Hair loss is also referred to as alopecia. There are various types of alopecia which depend on the causes and presentation of signs and symptoms. You must be thinking of some big medical terms that equate to alopecia and complex processes that cannot be prevented. Yes, this may be true to a small extent. However, to a large extent, the various causes of bald headedness can actually be prevented.
Let’s start by understanding some of the causes. We shall dwell on those that cut across most continents, additional information can be sought from this web pages.
From the systemic causes, thyroid hormones and other sex hormones such as androgens or testosterone have been known to trigger loss of hair. In most people with hair patches, the amount of these hormones in the blood system is often above that of other normal individuals.
In the case of thyroid hormones, the condition in which the thyroid glands produce less than adequate thyroid hormones is referred to hypothyroidism. The results are often devastating, metabolic functions simply ground to gradual halt. The reverse may also happen, where the thyroid glands are hyper functional and cause hyperthyroidism. This also means that most structures such as the skin would not perform its functions, including making hair strands from the hair follicles.
You can prevent hypothyroidism related baldness by ensuring that the thyroid gland is functional. The gland may be lost through injuries affecting the neck in the region around the adam’s apple. In addition, when you have adequate supply of iodine mineral in the diet, then you are likely to prevent hair loss. You cannot imagine one lacking iodine which is from the table salt. A It should be difficult unless of course you do not take salt. After all, almost every food from the soil has a considerable amount if iodine. Yet this is a common problem especially among those who have interfered with the thyroid glands.
The other reason for poor production of thyroid hormone is surgical operations around the neck. This could be necessitated by a medical procedure to save the individual from through cancer.
There is so much association between the availability of the thyroid hormones and hair thinning. You just have to take care of the thyroid hormone, it means more than food metabolism, its also your beauty.
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Children and Hair Loss – A Synopsis of the Types of Hair Loss
Hair loss among children is a common thing across continents of the world. It is commonly referred to as alopecia. There are not exceptions to the problem both in the developing and developed countries. There are however concentration of certain types of alopecia in some countries or cultures. This is due to presence of particular characteristics that may fuel the spread of the said type of hair thinning.
Thinning of hair or baldness can arise due to various causes. The causes include skin disorders, fungal infections, physical trauma and hereditary factors. Depending on the cause of loss of hair and accompanying symptoms, the type of a loss of hair also known as alopecia can be classified into various categories.
Here are few of these types of alopecia:
Alopecia areata: This is one of the most common types of alopecia. It is characterized by a patchy surface of the skin on the skin. It is the most common type of alopecia and it affects about 1% of those with the disease. Among those who have used the this type of loss of hair, there is patches of hair as the loss happens in patches. In most cases, the child loses more than half of the hair. Causes include use of birth control pills, sexually transmitted diseases especially syphilis, anemia and arthritis. Severe pain from infections such as arthritis may cause other hormones such as cortisol to rise beyond usual limits triggering hair thinning.
Alopecia universalis: also known as alopecia totalis is more of an indicator of the stage of the alopecia. It often describes an advanced alopecia areata, a condition where the child loses all the hair.
Telogen Effluvium: this is a common type of loss of hair among children and is characterized by certain dearth of hair. It is common among the new born babies or those who have undergone cancer treatments.
Trichotilimania: this is unique because the child would be plucking their own hair when they suffer from this condition. It is more of a psychological problem rather than localized skin problem. Among the children the boys will present this problem more than the girls, but as they hit their teenage, the girls may exhibit the problem even more strongly. You can tell that trichotilimania is coming up by learning the emotions of your child. If you are in a family set up, make it a routine to be able to share experience and help tone down the anger and frustrations.
Whatever the type of hair loss, the remedies remain much the same.
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Hair Loss Among Children – What Are the Signs and Symptoms?
Hair loss occurs due to several factors, these are often similar in both children and adults. For children, the loss is often associated with genetic and pregnancy conditions. Understanding the origin of the dearth of hair is an important first step to managing alopecia and related conditions in children.
Alopecia occurs in various forms depending on the prognosis or extent of patch. The causes of this alopecia include genetic factors. This is the most common cause of loss of hair in children. It follows through a family line and may not be prevented. Other causes include fungal infection. This is also very common especially among school age children because of the contagious nature of the infections.
Other causes of hair thinning, a term also used to refer to loss of hair is inflammations on the skin on the head. These can be caused bacterial infections or environmental stress such as excessive heat. Similarly, physical trauma caused by factors such as head gears can cause inflammation of the skin and hair loss. Most common is hypothyroidism which is caused by the inability in thyroid glands to produce adequate amounts of the hormone.
So how can one identify a developing loss of hair in a child? This is only possible through understanding the causes of hair loss discussed above.
In the case genetically driven hair thinning, the signs and symptoms should be a pretty easy mathematical calculation. Simply look at how deep baldheadedness runs in a family. If the immediate parents and uncles or aunties have bald heads, then the possibilities are equally great.
In the case of fungal infections, you can identify a developing alopecia by checking out the soft spots on the head. The skin is will often appear more colored than other spots on the head.
Fungal infections such as Tinea capitis have great capacities to completely alter the structure of the skin on the head. This will prevent the hair from growing in the patches affected. You can identify the patches that are affected by noticing the scales and enlarged lymph nodes.
Congenital forms of hair loss occur due to pregnancy contra indicated conditions such as drug abuse, sexually transmitted infection and taking of medicines that have severe side effects.
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Thinning Hair – What is the Cause and Remedy?
Thinning hair is a reference to the phenomenon in which the hair is lost due to several factors. The commonly known causes of the hair loss include genetics, stress, hormonal imbalance, poor diet, side effects of drugs, pregnancy and environmental stress.
Let us discuss each of the above for better understanding of the causes of thinning hair and the remedies.
Genetics is the leading cause of hair loss. In fact, more than 90% of the premature balding is due to the genetics of the individual. This simply means that hair lose is observed within a linage of a family. If either of your parents had bald head, then the probability of having a bald head is high among the offsprings.
Stress related hair loss is also a common occurrence. This is triggered by the rise in cortisol hormone which makes the hair follicles dormant. It therefore follows that the hair strands will fall either in single strands or in patches.
Environmental stress due to such factors as hot weather is responsible for the hair loss. The hair texture would be affected and the hair strand made more fragile. This would lead to breakage of the hair strands when exposed to water or combing.
Other biological specific factors such as pregnancy would also contribute to loss of hair due to hormonal imbalance. This happens due to the change in the structure of the connective tissues also associated with the hormonal imbalance.
A direct connection between hair loss and diet is observed especially among children. A diet that is lacking in protein would limit the supply of sulphur based amino acids which are crucial for hair strand making.
Having understood some of the causes of thinning hair, you may be categorizing your own and wondering why you? Here is an encouragement; you are just one of the more than 60 million Americans with bald head. It may not have much to do with what you failed to do, or what you did, it simply happens that you are one of the people who make up the statistics. If you are a man, then you are just an early one, the other will soon catch up with your as more than half of men in the world get bald head by age 60.
Even more good news! Science has made it possible to completely re-afforest the bald head. You can do this by using creams that activate the hair follicles or act against hormones such as cortisol and dyhydrothyroid (DHT). Special shampoos that unclog the hair follicles are also available in the market at affordable rates.
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Hair Loss – How the Side Effects Can Cause Loss of Hair
Hair loss is a natural thing that happens to all persons, male and female. It may be more pronounced in men as compared to females due to the hormonal differences. The causes of loss of hair include hormone testosterone, pregnancy, illness, emotional or physical stress and chemotherapy especially among cancer patients.
This article will concentrate on chemotherapy and other drug related hair loss and treatment.
Let us start by having an understanding of the drugs that cause the loss of hair. It is not every drug that cause this phenomenon. It is therefore not necessary to avoid all forms of medication out of fear of losing hair. If you are in doubt, you can read through the information on the side effects or ask the pharmacists for information on the drug.
Excluding anticancer chemotherapy drugs, there are a number of drugs that do not have usually exhibit bad reactions but which can cause loss of hair. These include pregnancy prevention pills and high blood pressure medications which alter the hormonal balance. Other drugs that have been said to cause loss of hair include celexa and accutane. This is a natural principle in life where there is nothing that lacks the other side of the coin. While these drugs play a vital role on making life healthier, they can lead to poor health too.
The most common class of drugs that cause loss of hair are the anti-depressants. This class of medicines which are also caused by include the celexa which are accused of using more of the proteins and amino acids. This means that amino acids such as cystein will not be supplied in adequate amounts to meet the need for production of hair follicles.
Other drugs with similar effect include Prozac, Paxil, Accutane. Accutane class of drugs is used to treat severe acne and is responsible for loss of hair among teenagers and those in their early twenties of age.
Similarly, medicines such as heparin that are blood thinners and anti-coagulants have been shown to increase loss of hair. So are dilantin which are used in managing the seizure and alopurinol used in managing gout.
In chemotherapy, hair loss is most prominent because of the suppression of the cellular activities. The toxic byproducts of the chemotherapy are very dangerous and they lead to destruction of the cells around the epidermis.
You can mitigate against the effects of these drugs on loss of hair by:
- Avoiding the medicines wherever there is an alternative
- Take lots of water
- Take iron tablet supplements
- Do not be rough when brushing your hair.
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Hair Loss – What is the Basis?
Loosing hair is not anything unnatural phenomenon. It is in fact expected at the later stages of men and women as the hormone testosterone increase in supply. It is also reported among scientists that everyone of us looses close to 100 hair strands per day. At this rate, it only requires 100 days to completely remove hair from an individual’s head.
There are several factors associated with this normal loss of hair. One of these causes is the fact that every single strand of hair has a life span. Just like blood cells which only have a maximum lifespan of 120 days, each hair has a lifespan of 4.5 years. Because each strand of hair is formed on its own, the hair strands do not all fall on the same day. Otherwise, we would have funny and surprising looks as the person you have always known shows up one morning with no hair. Other normal causes of hair loss include the physical strain that each hair strand goes through during combing or shampooing. The process of ageing also causes the hair follicles to be slow in producing replacements of hair strands. This is accelerated when one gets to the age past 30 years.
The loss of hair among adults is also associated with the hereditary factors. In this case, if either of your parent had bald head, then the chance of you having hair loss at an early age is very high. This is more common among the male children because it simply means that the male hormone testosterone would have been more pronounced. As age advances, the manifestation of bald head is even greater with at least 2 out of 3 men having bald head at 60 years of age.
The increase in number of men and women having bald head can best be explained by the increase in stress. The relationship between loss of hair and stress is often explained as being caused by hormonal changes or physical and emotional stress.
There are two classification of hair fall which is due to stress or the resultant hormonal imbalance based on the severity. Telogen effluvium s one in which the hair follicles dry up and hair strands drop off within the first two to three months. There is a chance for rejuvenation of the hair follicles and re-growth of cells within the six to nine months.
A more severe hair loss that is stress related is the alopecia areata. This type of falling hair is severe and may occur within the first there weeks of the rise in hormones. The hair falling patches and may lead to complete hair loss in a very short period. Chances of hair re-growing are often slimmer and may require use of medicine.
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