Baldness has been with us for a very long time. It even gets a mention in the Bible. The commonest cause by far is hereditary. If your father or mother were bald then it is highly likely that you will succumb. Having said that there are a number of other possible causes which your doctor may be able to exclude – lupus, diabetes, fungal infections, hypothyroidism or other hormonal disturbances. A major illness or surgery may mean that you notice excessive hair loss a few weeks afterwards. This is because more hair than usual reached the shedding stage at the same time. The same thing occurs a month or so after pregnancy or stopping taking the birth control pill. In fact there are a number of medications that can cause symptoms – blood thinners or anticoagulants, excessive doses of vitamin A, antidepressives and medicine for gout, as well of course as anti-cancer treatment. In most of these cases the matter will right itself when the hormonal levels return to normal. In the case of male pattern baldness though will no return to normal levels without some intervention such as hair transplants. There are drug treatments that can that can slow down the process, or cause it to pause such as Minoxidil and Finasteride, but in both cases the process will continue once the drugs have stopped. Most cases of baldness then will follow the familiar pattern – loss at the temples, thinning on the top of the head, and eventually the coming together of these two areas so that all the remaining hair lies in a horseshoe around the nape of the neck. In women it usually presents in a slightly different way with shedding diffused over the whole scalp, whatever the hormonal trigger. Another cause in women particularly is too tight braiding or pulling back of the hair in a very severe style. This causes tugging at the hair roots and eventually there will be an obvious loss of hair around the hairline unless a new style is adopted.
Posted under Hair Loss General
This post was written by admin on August 30, 2009
