Monthly Archives: July 2010

Due to the numerous celebrity sufferers who have spoken out about their own personal battles with hair loss in the last few years, most people are familiar with alopecia areata as a common cause of female hair loss.

Alongside alopecia, there are many other potential causes and triggers for hair loss in women. If you are suffering from hair loss and believe any of the following causes may be to blame, consult your doctor to get a formal diagnosis.

Female hair loss may be caused by:

• Trichotillomania – This is otherwise known as compulsive hair pulling, where the sufferer has the overwhelming urge to pull out their own body hair, usually on the head.

• Telogen effluvium – This is the shedding or thinning of hair in response to emotional or physical trauma or excessive stress. It is where the growth cycle of the hair is interrupted. Telogen effluvium can be triggered by anything from childbirth (fairly common) and eating disorders to chronic illnesses, emotional disorders and major surgery.

• Androgenic alopecia – This is also known as female-pattern baldness, where the hair thins all over the head rather than recedes from the front. This is believed to be caused by an androgen hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

• Thyroid problems

• Anaemia

• Response to medication

Although men suffer from similar conditions, there is often more of a stigma surrounding hair loss in women. As such, female hair loss can be much more devastating and disruptive to the life of the sufferer, damaging their self-esteem and body confidence.

This is because in today’s image-conscious society, hair is commonly associated with beauty, femininity and sexuality. Losing it can make you feel as if these things are taken away.

So, how do sufferers of female hair loss cope? There are many temporary and more permanent solutions out there, specially developed to help you manage your condition. For example:

• Cosmetics, hats and human hair wigs – Many women are comfortable without these things when at home, but they prefer to wear human hair wigs and headbands when out in public. They serve as temporary confidence boosters, helping you to get on with your life whilst you look for a more long-term solution.

• Hair loss treatments – There are many new treatments available for women suffering from hair loss, including hair replacement techniques such as Medi Connections (for minor cases of alopecia or thinning hair) or the Intralace System (for larger areas of hair loss).

There are many, many myths and rumours surrounding the causes of and treatments for hair loss, but most of these aren’t to be believed. If you want information about hair loss or thinning hair, the best option is to talk to your doctor or hair loss treatment specialist instead.

The following are a few of the most prevalent (and ridiculous) myths about hair loss, and the real truths behind them.

Causes of hair loss

• Myth: Washing, brushing or using too many hair products causes hair loss
• Truth: None of these things will cause permanent hair loss, although extremes like bleach or peroxide may damage your hair to the extent that it falls out. However, it will grow back.

• Myth: Hats cause hair loss
• Truth: You could wear a hat all day, every day and it would make no difference to your hair, unless the hat is so incredibly tight that it cuts off the circulation to your head.

Cures for hair loss

• Myth: Washing in cold water cures hair loss
• Truth: Cold water boosts blood circulation, as does standing on your head (another hair myth). Unfortunately, increased blood circulation won’t make lost hair grow back.

• Myth: Hair loss comes from your mother’s genes
• Truth: Hair loss is often hereditary, but you can get the gene from either parent.

Trichotillomania is a compulsive disorder where the sufferer feels compelled to pull or pluck out their own hair, from the head, eyebrows, eyelashes or anywhere else on the body.

This cause of hair loss in children is possibly the most distressing for parents, as it is the child his or herself who is pulling out their own hair. However, as many parents don’t see the child practising this habit, they often find it hard to believe that their child has the condition.

Symptoms

If you see areas of hair loss on your child’s head (and it is on the left for right-handed children or the right for left-handed children), start to check on your child at bedtime or when he/she is watching the television. These are likely times for the habit to emerge.

Causes

Trichotillomania in children is often triggered by long-term stress or tension in your child’s life, such as bullying at school or a death in the family.

Treatment

The good news is that many pre-school age children outgrow trichotillomania without treatment, but counselling or Habit Reversal Training (HRT) can be very helpful for older children. Human hair wigs can be used to restore the child’s confidence until the hair grows back.

Researchers from the Columbia University Medical Center in New York have reportedly identified eight genes which cause the hair loss condition alopecia areata, in a discovery which may pave the way for new, more effective treatments.

Alopecia areata affects both men and women, and has a surprisingly large number of sufferers throughout the world. It causes small patches of hair to fall out, often taking years to grow back. The condition sometimes develops into alopecia totalis (total scalp hair loss) and even alopecia universalis (full body hair loss).

The latest breakthrough by biomedical researchers at Columbia have linked the condition to eight genes, finding that they are the same as those associated with other autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes.

Doctor Angela Christiano, the senior researcher on the new study and also an alopecia areata sufferer, studied the genes of over 1,000 people with the condition, comparing their genetic makeup to that of over 3,200 non-sufferers. As well as identifying the eight genes, she also found that the more genes each sufferer carried, the more serious their condition was likely to be.

Implications

Speaking of the implications of the study’s findings, Dr Christiano explained how treatments that are already being developed for other auto-immune diseases could be used as a hair loss treatment. She said:

“Finally, we have the possibility of developing drugs that specifically target the mechanism behind the disease.”

Alopecia areata is a condition which causes hair to fall out in patches or spots on the scalp, sometimes developing into total hair loss on the head (called alopecia totalis) or the whole body (alopecia universalis).

This condition is particularly distressing for sufferers because it happens so suddenly, seemingly unprompted. Unfortunately, alopecia areata can also affect children, leaving many parents worried and unsure what to do.

The good news for parents is that although there is no outright cure for this condition, there is treatment available to control it. What’s more, a large number of child sufferers recover and get their hair back within approximately twelve months. Only a small number go on to develop alopecia totalis; in this case, it is recommended to seek treatment with a specialist.

Symptoms

The symptoms to look out for with alopecia areata in children include:

• The sudden appearance of oval or round bald patches
• Smooth skin where the hair has fallen out, with no scaling or broken hairs
• Occasionally, children with alopecia areata also experience ridging and pitting of the nails

Causes

Alopecia is thought to be an auto-immune disease where the immune system attacks the hair follicles, and it has often been found to run in families. There are other environmental triggers too, such as excessive emotional stress.

Treatment

Doctors may prescribe corticosteroid creams or ointments for children with alopecia, which are applied to the bald patches. Whilst waiting for the hair to eventually grow back, a temporary option is specially made human hair wigs for children.