Causes of hair loss

Monday October 16, 2006 ins: Male Cosmetic Surgery Tag(s):

Technorati Tags: hair loss, male pattern baldness, hair transplantation surgery, hair restoration

Hair loss is one of the most challenging things that a man or a woman has to deal with as he or she comes of age. Aside from wrinkles and jowls among other things, baldness is likewise dreaded by most people who long to keep their full head of hair intact through the years.

There have been various researches conducted for many years now in order to identify the leading causes of hair loss. Scientific studies point out that ageing is considered to be the main culprit as certain fluctuations in the natural flow of things inside the body take place. And this is where male-pattern baldness and female-pattern baldness come into the picture.

However, other research outputs also point out several other causes of hair loss. Hair loss is sometimes caused by certain illnesses such as Alopecia Totalis and its ilk.

Market Day reveals that there are three things that are thought to have an important role in causing hair loss. These include insulin, androgen levels, and metabolism.

Usually the substance known as sex hormone binding globulin, or SHBG, will bind the testosterone in the body and control the amount of the substance floating free in the bloodstream. When SHBG levels decline, there is more testosterone in the blood, and it is more likely to be converted to DHT. It is DHT that is thought to play a role in triggering hair loss.

The amount of SHBG in the body can be reduced by high levels of insulin, and there is often a relationship between high insulin levels and high levels of free testosterone. It is the level of free testosterone in the blood, not the total level of the hormone, that helps to determine the level of DHT present in the scalp.

Statistically speaking, those men who are bald or suffering from thinning hair are more likely to have insulin resistance, and also more likely to suffer from heart disease. There also seems to be a relationship between metabolic syndrome and baldness, and research into this and other hair loss causes is still ongoing.

Aside from those three factors, stress and tension are also considered to be causing baldness. Stress has long been known to cause a number of serious illnesses. Adding hair loss to its list of harmful effects sure reinforces the fact that avoiding or minimizing stress is everybody’s concern.

In addition to stress and tension, one or a combination of these factors can also cause hair loss.

1. Hormonal changes
2. Medication such as cancer chemotherapy
3. Excessive shampooing and blow-drying
4. Burns or radiation therapy

Family Doctor also has something to say about the causes of hair loss.

Hormonal problems may cause hair loss. If your thyroid gland is overactive or underactive, your hair may fall out. This hair loss usually can be helped by treatment of the thyroid disease. Hair loss may occur if male or female hormones, known as androgens and estrogens, are out of balance. Correcting the hormone imbalance may stop your hair loss.

Many women notice hair loss about 3 months after they've had a baby. This loss is also related to hormones. During pregnancy, high levels of certain hormones cause the body to keep hair that would normally fall out. When the hormones return to pre-pregnancy levels, that hair falls out and the normal cycle of growth and loss starts again.

Some medicines can cause hair loss. This type of hair loss improves when you stop taking the medicine. Medicines that can cause hair loss include blood thinners (also called anticoagulants), medicines used for gout, medicines used in chemotherapy to treat cancer, vitamin A (if too much is taken), birth control pills and antidepressants.

Certain infections can cause hair loss. Fungal infections of the scalp can cause hair loss in children. The infection is easily treated with antifungal medicines.

Whatever it is that causes your hair loss problem, experts recommend that understanding the cause helps in finding the right treatment for the condition. Once the root cause is known, immediate treatment is necessary in order to curtail whatever dire effects the condition might bring. For common baldness however, hair transplantation surgery might be the sole answer.

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