What Increases Your Risk
Factors that increase the risk of hair loss include:
- Genetics . If one or both of your parents have hair loss, it is likely that you will also.
- Disease or illness. Certain diseases or an illness can cause hair loss. The diseases may include ringworm of the scalp , thyroid diseases such as hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, or lupus. The illness may include a severe infection or high fever.
- Age. Many people have some hair loss by the age of 50.
- Medicines and medical treatments. Certain medicines or medical treatments can cause scalp problems and hair loss.
- Hair care and styling. Some methods of hair care or hair styles can damage hair and cause hair loss.
If you have alopecia areata, you are more likely to have permanent hair loss if:
- You have a family history of the condition.
- You have the condition at a young age.
- You have a lot of hair loss.
- You have abnormal colour, shape, texture, or thickness of the fingernails or toenails.
What Are The Symptoms
Your symptoms will depend on what kind of hair loss you have.
If your hair is thinning, it happens slowly over time, so you may not notice the hairs falling out. If your hair is shedding, then clumps of hair fall out. You may lose hair all over your scalp, which is called general hair loss. Or you may lose hair only in one area, which is called focal hair loss.
With inherited hair loss, men usually get bald spots around the forehead or on the top of the head, while women have some thinning all over the scalp, but mostly on the top of the head.
Since your hair has a lot to do with your appearance, losing it may cause you to have lower self-esteem if you don’t like how you look. This is especially true in women and teenagers.
Thinning Hair And Hair Loss: Could It Be Female Pattern Hair Loss
For most women, FPHL begins in midlife, when a woman is in her 40s, 50s, or 60s. It can begin earlier for some women.
FPHL is a progressive condition. This means women tend to continue losing hair. But women do not lose all of their hair, as do some men. Instead, your part often gets wider. Hair near your temples may recede. Without treatment, some women eventually develop widespread thinning.
Treatment can prevent hair loss from worsening and help women regrow their hair. Treatment delivers the best results when started at the first sign of hair loss.
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What Questions Might Your Healthcare Provider Ask To Diagnose And Categorize Your Hair Loss
Your healthcare provider might ask about your habits:
- What kinds of hair products do you use?
- What kinds of hair styles do you wear?
- What types of food do you eat ?
- Do you have a habit of pulling your hair out ?
They might ask about your history:
- Has anyone in your immediate family experienced hair loss?
- Is there anything stressful going on in your life?
- What medications and supplements do you take every day?
- Has hair loss ever happened to you before?
- What foods are in your diet?
And, they might ask about your observations:
- How long have you been losing hair?
- Have you been shedding more?
- Have you noticed hair loss in places other than your scalp, like your eyebrows? Leg and arm hair?
- Does anything worsen your hair loss?
- Does anything improve your hair loss?
- Have you noticed hair loss occasionally or has it been going on continuously?
- Have you noticed if your hair growth has changed?
- Has your hair been breaking more often?
Are There Complications/side Effects Of Treatment
Minoxidil may irritate your scalp and cause dryness, scaling, itching and/or redness. See your dermatologist if this happens.
With Minoxidil you might also see hair growing in other places other than your scalp . Wash your face after you apply Minoxidil and make sure you avoid other areas when you apply it.
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A Trichologist Is Not Medically Trained
A trichologist can of course help in some cases but can only give patients topical treatment for hair loss, as they are not medically trained. Unlike a dermatologist, they cannot perform tests that help with the diagnosis and evaluation of the condition and inform the best course of treatment these require special training.
For example, a dermatologist can perform a trichoscopy with a video dermatoscopy, a non-invasive technique that allows a rapid and magnified observation of the skins surface enabling the evaluation of hair thickness, presence of regrowing hairs and scalp inflammation. We can also perform a trigonometry, which involves an instrument that provides a numeric value of the hair quality. All of which are vital to in-depth diagnosis.
Dermatologists can also carry out a scalp biopsy, where a sample from the scalp is taken under local anaesthetic and tested under the microscope by a histopathologist. These tests are often necessary to evaluate cases of hair loss.
Only a dermatologist is qualified to carry out these tests, without which a full and thorough evaluation and diagnosis is not possible. Getting to the cause of your condition leads to better treatment. Furthermore, there are a variety of oral treatments available for hair disorders which a trichologist cannot prescribe but a dermatologist can so these are some reasons why you need a dermatologist for hair loss and not a Trichologist.
What Does A Trichologist Do
Specialists working in this field help people with issues such as hair loss, hair breakage, oily scalp, and scalp psoriasis. Some trichologists can also treat problems related to conditions like alopecia and trichotillomania, or hair-pulling disorder.
Trichologists examine the hair and scalp to diagnose and recommend treatment for your condition and its severity.
However, since theyâre not physicians, they cannot prescribe drugs or perform medical or surgical procedures.
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Should I See A Dermatologist For Hair Loss
Of course, you can ask for advice from your dermatologist online, but we would recommend seeing him/her personally. Do not make the mistake of thinking that a dermatologist is only trained to take care of any skin issues. Your dermatologist is able to recognize and treat any issues that are linked, not only to your skin but also to your nails and hair. That is why, during your visit at the dermatologist, you will be asked to take away most of your clothes, so that your doctor can inspect the whole skin, your scalp and hair, and your nails to look for any irregularities.
Of course, your dermatologist will also ask you about your medical history and perform a physical exam. Other tests such as a blood test or a hormone test might be required as well. For example, if your dermatologist discovers that it is really a serious hair loss case that you are dealing with, he/she would naturally want to investigate further and discover the reason behind it. You might be instructed to expand your visit to an endocrinologist or even another dermatologist due to the importance of a second opinion.
Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy For Hair Thinning
Frequently asked questions about PRP Therapy.
Platelet Rich Plasma therapy is a restorative treatment that uses plasma from your own blood to stimulate re-growth of your hair. PRP therapy stimulates the bodys inactive hair follicles to re-grow healthier, thicker hair and aids in the bodys natural healing process. Performed in our office, PRP is a simple, non-surgical treatment that takes less than hour per treatment.
Who is a good candidate for PRP?
PRP has proven effective for common non-scarring forms of hair loss, which are also known as:
- Female pattern hair thinning
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Hair Growth Support + By Nuzena
Nuzena is a brand-new supplement company known for their potent formulas.
Nuzenas Hair Growth Support + contains several ingredients that help to promote hair growth such as biotin, folic acid, and Fo-Ti ingredients we have seen before, but are in larger dosages here.
It also contains several vitamins and trace minerals that help to support hair volume and nourish hair quality something we know is also important for people looking for hair growth supplements.
Nuzena claims that their formula will support hair growth, hair volume, and hair structure and by looking at the ingredients inside the formula we can certainly see why.
Another encouraging sign for first time buyers is that there are plenty of verified positive customer reviews on their website a great sign to see.
Easily a top-3 option and one of the cheapest options, too.
Should I See A Dermatologist Or Hair Restoration Surgeon
This blog is still pretty new, and Ive already received this question a number of times from readers.
A few of my readers have received hair loss misdiagnoses from doctors theyve also received some peculiar recommendations.
Ultimately, I dont think title matters here. You want to visit the best, most experienced doctor in your area who specializes in hair loss and whether that doctor is a hair restoration surgeon or a dermatologist is largely irrelevant.
That said, there are pros and cons to seeing a dermatologist, just like there are pros and cons to seeing a surgeon. In this post, Ill review the advantages and disadvantages in each case, and hopefully help you determine which doctor is the best fit for you. Lets begin.
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What About Pregnancy Hair Loss
Pregnancy may cause many changes in the scalp hair. As the hormones fluctuate during pregnancy, a large number of women feel their hair thickens and becomes fuller. This may be related to change in the number of hairs cycling in the growth phase of hair growth, but the exact reason is unknown. Quite often, there may be a loss of hair after delivery or a few months later which will eventually normalize.
Causes And Symptoms Of Alopecia
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder that causes you to lose hair and often leaves little bald spots on your head. Our hair is made up of mostly protein. When our body does not have enough protein, the hairs enter the resting phase. This causes us to lose hair and hair to become brittle and fall out. Alopecia is both hereditary and hormonal. It affects both males and females and can happen at any age. There are many causes related to alopecia. Causes include severe or chronic illness, thyroid disease, low-protein diets, low iron levels and improper hair care. It is also common after childbirth. If hair loss occurs, the hairs may enter a resting phase and are lost without immediate replacement. It could last up to nine months but should resolve itself without treatment. This also may be the case if you have a chronic illness.
Alopecia occurs when hair follicles are attacked by your own body, causing clumps of hair to fall out. While rare, there is a potential to lose all the hair on your head and/or on your entire body. Males are more likely to lose all their hair while women mostly experience thinning. Sometimes the hair grows back for good and other times it grows back and then falls out again shortly after. Unfortunately, alopecia is not curable, but can and should be treated by a dermatologist. During diagnosis, a skin biopsy may be performed and examined to properly diagnose the alopecia.
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Hair La Vie Clinical Formula
Hair La Vie Clinical Formula contains a proprietary blend of 20 clinically studied natural ingredients, including flaxseed, selenium, vitamin D3, zinc, and reishi mushroom, to thicken hair and reduce damaged follicles. None of Hair La Vies products are ever tested on animals.
It also includes EVNol Max, which are vitamin E Tocotrienols that boost the immune system to support optimal hair growth. All ingredients are free of gluten, dairy, preservatives, and GMOs.
Support Your Bodys Nutritional Needs
Exercise is great for boosting circulation to our follicles, but also make sure youre giving your body all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients it needs to feed those follicles.
Taking a hair growth vitamin with biotin will help curb hair breakage and also grow healthy hair from the get-go, said Dr. Mullans.
Our GRO Biotin Gummies and GRO+ Advanced Hair Gummies can help provide the nutritional support your follicles need to thrive, all in a completely vegan, once-daily gummy that helps boost a healthy diet or fill any gaps.
For an approach that combats hair thinning internally and topically, try the best-selling GRO More Kit, which include GRO Biotin Gummies plus a bottle of GRO Hair Serum, which features clinically proven ingredients that can increase the appearance of hair density by up to 52% and reduce signs of shedding by up to 76% in as soon as four months.
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Are There Other Treatment Options For Fphl
Women want innovative treatments for FPHL. To meet this need, researchers continue to look for new ways to stimulate hair growth and stop hair breakage. Other treatments that you may find for FPHL include the following.
Lasers for at-home use: The FDA has approved laser combs, helmets, and other devices, which are available without a prescription, to treat hair loss at home. These devices emit a low level of laser light that may help stimulate new hair growth. A few studies show that this can be effective for treating FPHL.
As with minoxidil and prescription medicines, you must continue using an at-home laser device to see results. We still do not know whether these devices are safe for long-term use or if they can continue to produce new hair growth.
Platelet-rich plasma therapy:
It is believed the platelets help stimulate your cells to grow hair.
Researchers are just beginning to study this therapy as a treatment for hair loss. The early findings show promise, but more studies are needed to know whether this is a safe and effective treatment for FPHL.
Stem cells: Using stem cells to treat FPHL is still in the experimental stages. Like platelet-rich plasma therapy, more studies are needed to know whether stem cells are a safe and effective treatment for FPHL.
Hair loss shampoos: These shampoos tend to do one of the following.
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Help your hair hold moisture, which makes hair look fuller and thicker
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Lessen breakage, which can reduce thinning