How To Prevent Hair Loss
Once you understand more about illnesses that cause female hair loss, the next step is finding ways to encourage natural hair growth and maintain its strength.
As mentioned, hair loss caused by cancer or chemotherapy is temporary hence, your hair will regrow when stopping the treatment. But it may get thinner. You should take care of your mane carefully after treating cancer. Ask your doctor whether you can consume hair supplements to stimulate hair to grow faster and thicker.
wear a hair topper or extensions to hide your thinning hair
Whats more, follow a balanced diet to provide the body and hair with the essential vitamins and nutrients they need. Rapid weight loss is not good for physical health as well as increases the risk of hair loss. There is a wide range of diets that help you stay healthy while supplying enough nutrients, like protein, iron, and zinc for hair strands. Also, ensure you consume vitamin B12 to support the health of your hair.
Besides, keep your mind healthy is important to prevent hair problems. Try to sleep enough, limit stress, or taking part in yoga courses to get your hair growing again.
Also, you can use a hair topper or extensions to hide your thinning hair.
How Is It Treated
How you choose to treat your hair loss depends on the cause. It also depends on your feelings. You may decide that you need treatment, or you may not be worried about thinning hair or baldness. The choice is up to you.
If hair loss is caused by something that won’t last or can be treated, your hair is likely to grow back. For example, if an underactive thyroid is causing the problem, taking thyroid medicine may help. And most hair lost during chemotherapy will grow back after the treatment ends.
Hair loss that runs in the family can be treated with medicines or hair transplant surgery. Some people choose to wear hairpieces, like wigs or toupees . Finding different ways of styling your hair, like dyeing or combing, also can help.
If hair loss is caused by something you can control, like stress or medicines, you can treat it by getting rid of the cause.
When you are deciding about treatment, think about these questions:
- Which treatment is most likely to work?
- How long will it take?
- Will it last?
- What are the side effects and other risks?
- How much will it cost, and will insurance cover it?
Treatment For Hair Loss Is Out There
Most cases of increased shedding will gradually resolve on their own without treatment, Dr. Schlosser says. But if your hair doesn’t return to its normal fullness within nine months, see a doctor for an evaluation to find out whether something else is going on. And if you have other worrying symptoms, like itching, pain, burning, flaking, or redness, you should seek help sooner.
See your primary care provider or go directly to a dermatologist who specializes in treating hair loss. They can determine what type it is and what the right treatment approach is for you based on which therapies are currently available for your specific issue.
In addition to changes in products and hairstyling habits, your doctor may prescribe topical treatments to treat hair loss, like minoxidil, or direct you to an over-the-counter version, like Rogaine . They might also recommend treatments like platelet-rich plasma injections , which can be helpful for some patients, SELF explained previously. If youre curious about your options, check in with your doctor or dermatologist.
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Points To Remember About Alopecia Areata
- Alopecia areata causes hair loss, usually on the head and face.
- The disease is different for each personsome peoples hair grows back fully, while it does not in others.
- There is no cure for alopecia areata, but there are treatments that help hair grow back more quickly.
- You can do many things to cope with hair loss, such as wearing hats or hair pieces and seeking support from others if you feel anxiety or depression.
Beware Of Big Promises
There are numerous devices and products that are marketed as effective hair loss treatments, but many of them do not work. Beware of all of the false advertising associated with these products. If a cure for hair loss in women sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Before-and-after pictures may have been doctored to be misleading. How do you know if a hair loss treatment really works? Ask your dermatologist about any treatment you are considering. Look on the FDA and Federal Trade Commission websites to search for approved medical devices and drugs.
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Cancer Treatment Is A Trigger
Radiation and chemotherapy used to treat cancer are some of the common causes of hair loss in women. Both therapies harm hair follicles in addition to killing cancer cells. People undergoing cancer treatment often experience dramatic hair loss as a result of these therapies. They may wake up with clumps of hair on their pillow or they may lose large amounts of hair in the shower. Rapid hair loss in women often starts within 2 weeks of beginning treatment. It may be worst between 1 to 2 months into therapy. The scalp may be extra sensitive during this time. It may be irritating to wash, brush, and comb hair. The good news is that once cancer treatment is over, hair tends to grow back.
Preventive And Minimization Strategies
Hair, especially in Asian and Caucasian individuals, is generallymore elastic when wet, which means that it breaks more easily than whendry. Therefore, it is important to avoid rubbing wet hair with a toweland brushing or combing wet hair. Allowing hair to air dry rather thanusing a blow-dryer also may be beneficial, because high heat renders thehair brittle and more prone to breakage. Similarly, limiting the use offlat irons and curling irons can also help prevent hair loss.1
Certain products and hairstyles put stress on the hair and cause itto break. Limiting the use of bleaches, dyes, gels, relaxers, and hairsprays can help reduce breakage. Hairpins, clips, and rubber bands cancause breakage when used to hold hair tightly. If these accessories areused, the best choices are hairpins that have a smooth, ball-tippedsurface, hair clips with a spongy rubber padding, and hair bands made offabric. To prevent breakage, hairstyles that pull on the hair, such ascornrows, tight ponytails, and braids, should be avoided.1
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Female Pattern Hair Loss
In women, hair slowly thins all over the scalp, but the hairline usually doesnt recede. Many women experience this type of hair loss as a natural part of aging, although hair loss may begin any time after puberty. Female pattern hair loss can cause hair to thin dramatically, but only rarely does it lead to baldness.
What Are The Symptoms Of Alopecia Areata
Alopecia areata mostly affects hair, but in sometimes it can cause changes to the nails. People with the disease are usually healthy and have no other symptoms.
Hair Changes
Alopecia areata typically begins with sudden loss of round or oval patches of hair on the scalp, but any part of the body may be affected, such as the beard area in men, or the eyebrows or eyelashes.
After a bare patch develops, several possible things may happen:
- The hair grows back within a few months. It may look white or gray at first but may regain its natural color over time.
- More bare patches develop. Sometimes hair grows back in the first patch while new bare patches form.
- Small patches join to form larger ones.
- In rare cases, all body hair is lost.
In most cases, the hair regrows, but more hair loss may follow.
Nail Changes
Nail changes such as ridges and pits occur in some people, especially those who have hair loss over more parts of their body.
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Childbirth May Be A Trigger
Moms-to-be are often very happy that their hair seems much fuller during pregnancy, but they are then disappointed when they experience hair loss after giving birth. Losing hair after pregnancy is not true hair loss and is normal. That’s because hormones and hair loss in women are linked. Hair falls out after women give birth due to decreasing estrogen levels. Some women notice that they lose a lot of hair in a short period of time after giving birth. The good news is that after this shedding period, hair fullness often returns to normal within 1 to 2 years. Many people wonder what’s the best treatment for hair loss in women? For postpartum moms waiting for their full head of hair to return, using over-the-counter volumizing shampoo and conditioner formulated for fine hair can make hair appear fuller.
Six Autoimmune Diseases That Cause Hair Loss
Learn about these conditions, including lupus and Hashimoto’s.
Hair loss is one of the most dreaded conditions, and it affects a whopping 25 percent of women and 50 percent of men over the age of 50. But it isn’t merely age-related. In fact, hair loss can be the result of several different factors, including genetics, hormones, medications, and general lifestyle choices. Most life stressors, including illness, emotional trauma, protein deprivation , and hormonal changes like those in pregnancy, puberty, and menopause may cause hair loss, according to Sapna Palep, M.D., a dermatologist at Spring Street Dermatology in New York City.
One of the most common culprits behind hair loss, especially when it happens before age 50, is autoimmune disease, which affects somewhere between 14.7 and 23.5 million Americans to date, according to The Autoimmune Registry. With these types of conditions, one’s immune system mistakenly attacks the bodyand one of the most common side effects, along with a slew of others, is hair loss. “Similar to the situation in extreme dieting and stress, the body shuts down hair growth to preserve energy,” explains Dominic Burg, hair trichologist and Chief Scientist for Evolis Professional. Here, a look at some of the most common autoimmune diseases that cause hair loss, explained by the experts who treat them.
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Crash Diets Are Dangerous
Crash diets and fad diets promise quick weight loss, but most do not work and can be dangerous. If you lose 15 pounds or more very quickly, you may lose a significant amount of hair within a matter of months. Inadequate protein and nutrients is one of the potential reasons for hair loss in women. Stick to a healthy, balanced eating plan. Fresh fruit, vegetables, lean meats, and complex carbs give your body the fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals you need to maintain a healthy body, including a full head of hair. Other dietary risk factors for hair loss? Excess vitamin A may set the stage for your luscious locks to fall out.
Serious Illnesses That Cause Hair Loss In Women
Baldness, thinning hair, or hair loss can be caused by different reasons. Sometimes hair problems are an unwanted effect of a health problem that requires proper treatment. Still, if you dont tackle it timely, it may lead to permanent hair loss. Be careful!
Down below weve listed some illnesses that cause hair loss and severe dry scaly scalp. Lets see the relation between these factors with hair issues.
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Key Points About Alopecia
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Male-pattern and female-pattern hair loss is the most common type of hair loss.
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Doctors look for an underlying disorder in women with signs of virilization.
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Microscopic hair examination or scalp biopsy may be required to determine the reason for the hair loss.
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Doctors treat the specific cause of hair loss when possible otherwise, treatments for male-pattern and female-pattern hair loss include drugs, hair replacement, laser light therapy, and injections of platelet-rich plasma.
What Are These Illnesses That Cause Hair Loss Among Women
- Thyroid Disease
Thyroid disease like hyperthyroidism has listed hair loss among women as one of its symptoms. Hyperthyroidism is when the thyroid releases a massive amount of its hormones and it mostly affects women. These excessive amounts of producing hormones are what cause hair loss among women and any other symptoms. Hyperthyroidism affects the whole scalp area and hair thinning can be seen uniformly. It doesnt just affect a specific area of the scalp, but the whole.
Though only prolonged hyperthyroidism can cause hair loss among women and only 70% of patients with hyperthyroidism have experienced hair loss as a symptom. Hair loss among women becomes evident in most patients after months of being diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. Some believe that thyroid disease treatment is what causes hair loss among women then decides to stop the treatment, resulting to further hair loss among women as the disease develops.
Treating thyroid disease is the best way to overcome the process of hair loss. It is so much better and advisable for anyone experiencing hair loss to visit a dermatologist and have your scalp checked before taking any medical steps on your own.
- Alopecia Areata
The disease affects almost anyone, men and women of any age. Up until now, theres still no cure for Alopecia, though, some physicians recommend using hair growth shampoo for remedy but that doesnt mean it is cured.
- Scalp Infection
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How Is Alopecia Areata Treated
For many people, hair grows back without any type of treatment.
The main goal of treatment is to stop the immune system attack on hair follicles and to help hair grow back. While there are no drugs that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for alopecia areata, medications that have been approved for other conditions may be used to treat it.
Alopecia areata is treated by:
- Dermatologists, who specialize in conditions of the skin, hair, and nails.
Other specialists who may be involved in your care include:
- Mental health professionals, who can help with the psychosocial challenges caused by having a medical condition.
- Primary care doctors, such as family physicians or internal medicine specialists, who coordinate care between the different health providers and treat other problems as they arise.
Birth Control Pills & Contraception
The use of birth control pills, or going off of birth control pills, as well as other types of contraceptives , can cause fluctuations in hormone levels, which are a common cause of female hair loss.
Talk to your dermatologist or doctor about changing the type of birth control that youre using to see if this could be the source of your hair loss.
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