About Hair Loss Treatment
You were going along happily in your life, enjoying a thick, full head of hair, and then one day...wham! You looked in the mirror as you were combing your hair to get ready for bed and noticed a bald spot the size of Mt. McKinley. Where did that come from? you asked yourself as you kept looking at it in disbelief. A more important question is: What can you do about it? There are treatments out there, but first you need to understand some of the causes of hair loss.
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Causes of Hair Loss
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Alopecia is the most common cause of hair loss. It has three main types, of which the most common is alopecai areata. This causes thinning of the hair, resulting in small, round patches. If not treated, they will develop into large bald spots that sometimes cover most of the scalp before the condition improves. It can often take several months to naturally regrow hair. The second type of alopecia is alopecia totalis, which begins with small patches of hair loss, like alopecia areata; the difference is that an afflicted person will eventually lose all of his hair. The third type is alopecia universalis, which results in hair loss over the entire body.
All of these forms of alopecia are thought to be auto-immune conditions. This does not mean that someone afflicted with alopecia has an autoimmune condition, merely that it can be a result of such a condition. There is also another type called traction alopecia, so named because it is generally caused by pulling hair into tight braids or buns.
Hair loss can also be caused by a thyroid disorder. Your thyroid produces hormones that control the body's metabolism. When the thyroid is not functioning properly, hair loss can occur. A simple blood test can determine if this is the problem; if so, it can easily be corrected with medication. The only problem with taking medication for thyroid disorders is that the medication can cause hair loss as well.
Additional Factors
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Other causes of hair loss can include chemotherapy, radiation treatments, fungal infections (similar to ringworm), stress and certain prescription drugs.
Treatments
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There are numerous treatments for alopecia, but which ones do and don't work? An M.D. may perform steroid injections into the balding areas of the scalp. This treatment doesn't really do much. For most people, the hair doesn't regrow any faster with the injections than without. Another option is oral steroid medications. These also are not very effective in treating alopecia or hair loss in general. There are many over-the-counter hair-loss treatments that, for most people, do not work either. So what are you supposed to do? One thing you can do is give it time. This is not easy for a lot of people, whose pride is their hair.
Medications
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There are two medications with which some hair-loss sufferers have found limited success. They are minoxidil and finasteride.
It is not certain how Minoxidil works, only that about 25 percent of patients prescribed it have experienced hair regrowth. Minoxidil was developed for men, but some women have had success with it as well. It may take a few months to see results, and the product
must be used continuously to maintain those results. It is not for use by women in their child-bearing years. Side effects can include dry scalp or irritation.Finasteride was originally developed to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia, which is the condition that causes an enlarged prostate. Some professionals who have prescribed Finasteride have found it to help reduce hair loss, because it can help stop testosterone from converting into dihydrotestosterone, which can play a major role in hair loss. Finasteride is not to be used by pregnant women, as it can cause problems with fetal development. It has not been used with any success by post-menopausal women. Results can take up to 1 year to become apparent, and the hair growth will cease when the medication is stopped.
The only treatment I myself have found to truly work is an over-the-counter shampoo and conditioner called Nioxin. It works by taking the hormone DHT (dihydrotestosterone) out of the hair follicles. The treatment must be followed for at least 3 months, with no other brand of shampoo or conditioner used during this time. Most people experience new growth after about 1 month of treatment, but results may vary.
Psychological Impact
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Losing hair is not fun. It affects people in different ways, but the one thing that seems universal is that it tends to affect the psychological well-being of the individual. There are no treatments that will help the person who is experiencing hair loss. Yet one thing that has helped a lot of people deal with this problem is to join a support group. There, they find like-minded people going through the same problem as they are. If there is no support group in your area, there are several websites that help people understand and deal with hair loss.
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