Hair Loss – Cause and How to cure?

What is hair loss, and when to seriously consider it?

People normally lose between 50 to 100 hairs a day, this is called hair shedding. However, if the hair would not grow back normally to compensate for falling hair, we called it hair loss or alopecia. Hair loss can be noticed by the gradual thinning of the hair on your head, a thinner ponytail, a receding hairline that becomes more visible, or a bald spot that grows slowly.

There are three kinds of hair loss.

• Alopecia areata is a type of permanent hair loss caused by the body attacking its own hair follicles, rendering the patient unable to grow hair.
• Androgenic alopecia is a type of permanent hair loss caused by inherited genes that cause hair follicles to shrink and stop growing hair, resulting in visible hair loss.
• Traction Alopecia is a permanent hair loss caused by the constant pulling of hair follicles.

There’s also Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia (CCCA), which causes permanent hair loss in the crown of the scalp, and Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia (FFA), which causes permanent hair loss at the receding hairline. Both are caused by a combination of an infection, an autoimmune disease, and specific genes.

Hair loss can appear suddenly with symptoms such as scaly bald patches, Intense itching, burning, tenderness, redness, swelling, and sores that may itch and leak pus on the skin where you have hair loss. Hair loss can affect your brows, eyelashes, beard, nose hairs, and pubic hair as well as your hair.

Why hair falls out?

There are numerous conditions that cause hair to fall and prevent it from regrowing, and the majority of them can result in permanent hair loss. Among these conditions is

• Age: Elder makes hair growth slow and makes some hair follicles stop making hair.
• Cancer Treatment: Chemotherapy and Radiation treatment can make all hair loss within a few weeks of treatment.
• Friction:  Boots, socks, or tight clothing that rubs against their skin can damage hair follicles.
• Genetics: Inherit genes can affect the function of hair follicles.
• Hair care: Color or perm can cause permanent damage to your hair follicles and lead to hair loss
• Hair Style: A tightly pulled back hair also causes permanent damage to your hair follicles and lead to hair loss
• Hormonal Imbalance: One of the side effects from hormonal imbalance is hair loss.
• Medication: Hair loss can be a side effect of some medications.
• Poisoning: Most toxins and heavy metals can lead to hair loss.
• Scalp infection: An infection, psoriasis, and scarring alopecia can permanently destroy hair follicles.
• Sickness: Some diseases including thyroid and sexually-transmitted infections can lead to hair loss.
• Stress: Stress can lead to excessive shedding of your hair.
• Lack of Biotin, Iron, Protein, or Zinc: These are elements that aid hair growth.

How can we stop hair loss?

As hair loss can trace back to many reasons, prevention and treatment options for hair loss can vary. Luckily, while some need to be done by dermatologists, many procedures you can do by yourself. Among these conditions are

• Taking care of your hair, by using gentle shampoo and conditioner, using the lowest heat setting on the dryer, brushing or combing hair gently, limiting the use of hair straightener and curling iron, and stopping colouring, perming and chemical straightening your hair.
• Changing your hairstyles to ones that reduce pulling stress on your hair.
• Stop habits of pulling hair, and twisting hair around fingers.
• Eat healthy, by providing meals with adequate calories and including Biotin, Iron, Protein, and Zinc.
• Stop Smoking, as smoking can worsen hair loss

Some treatments, such as Minoxidil, a Laser cap, and a Microneedling device, can be performed at home. If used on a regular basis, all of them can help to prevent further hair loss and stimulate hair growth.

Dermatologists can provide you with additional treatment for advanced hair loss, such as

• Prescription Medicine to cure the infection on the scalp, or directly slow down hair loss
• Corticosteroids, by injecting them into thinning areas every 4 to 8 weeks to stimulate hair growth.
• Platelet-rich Plasma (PRP), using patient blood to skim plasma and injecting them into thinning areas every 3 to 6 months to stimulate hair growth.
• Low-level Laser Therapy, to heal hair follicles and stimulate hair growth.
• Hair Transplants, by relocating patient’s healthy hair follicles to bald or thinning areas, creating natural-looking hair patterns.

What we can do to bring the hair back?

The Dermatology, Hair, and Cosmetic Surgery Center at Phyathai 1 Hospital provides a variety of options to restore your hair to normal consistency, including medication, low-level laser treatment, and complete hair transplant surgery performed by our experienced dermatologists.

We not only deal with hair loss, but we are also specialists in hair disorders and scalp diseases. We also treat the side effects of other diseases or treatments, making us a one-stop destination for hair and scalp care.

Dermatology, Hair and Cosmetic Surgery Center at Phyathai 1 Hospital is open daily from 9 AM to 6 PM on weekends and 8 PM on weekdays. We recommend taking a reservation for a consultant by phone at number (+66)2-201-4600 ext.3324-5 or by E-mail at [email protected]