Coping With Hair Loss from Alopecia
About Alopecia
Alopecia areata is a general term used for hair loss; this can be a small bald patch on the head or the loss of all hair over the entire body. The general term alopecia can be used to refer to alopecia areata, alopecia totalis and alopecia universalis.
Alopecia is not life threatening but it can be distressing at times. While there are no proven effective cures for alopecia, hair can grow back spontaneously. However, the more hair that is lost, the less likely it is to grow back.
When you first get alopecia you may feel that your world has turned upside down. It may affect your relationships, work, social life and you may find it difficult to go anywhere in public. These responses are normal and understandable.
Learning To Cope
People with alopecia use many ways to cope with their hair loss. This article covers some of these methods and we hope it proves useful.
Expressing Your Feelings
Sometimes you might want to cry or shout because you feel it is unfair that you have alopecia. Do It! It’s perfectly normal to feel this way.
Holding these feelings inside is one option, and it can be beneficial at times, but you may find it makes you feel tired and irritable. Finding ways to relieve tension.
Exercise can help us relieve our feelings in a positive way. Some kinds of exercise are good for ecpressing anger, such as running, others are more calming, such as Yoga and Tai Chi. All exercise helps [...]
Tags: alopecia, Hair Loss, hair thinning
For Hair Loss, Nioxin Hair Care Products May Help!
Thinning hair can be a very stressful situation for women, especially young women, but there are plenty of products and help out there to help you get back to a ‘normal’ looking person and get out and about again.
Nioxin’s line of shampoos, conditioners, and treatments is an interesting example of a cosmetic product that has a reputation for having drug benefits. If you do a quick web search of Nioxin you’ll find numerous sites commenting on its ability to slow hair loss, increase hair growth, inhibit DHT (one of the causes of thinning hair) and make hair grow thicker. If a product really did claim to do any of these things it would have to be a drug and would require FDA approval.
Nioxin themeselves have never claimed most of these suggestions and is established as a leading provider of natural skincare solutions enjoying a reputation among hair care consumers since 1987 as providing treatments for helping with thinning hair and making thinning hair look thicker and fuller.
The products are designed to help remove buildup on the scalp that prevents hair follicles in the telogen (resting phase) from regrowing, as well as prevent excessive dihydrotestosterone (DHT)–a converted form of testosterone largely responsible for male pattern baldness–on the scalp and hair. Information from the company website notes that results from an independent study showed that nine out of 10 people who used Nioxin on a daily basis noted the appearance of thicker [...]
Tags: hair loss nioxin, Male Hair Loss, Thinning Hair, thinning hair in woman, womens thinning hair
There are basically just two approved hair loss treatment components that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration which are quite well known amonst the public as Minoxidil and Finasteride. If use is started early when hair thinning hair loss is noticed, then for many people, these products appear to halt hair loss.
It must be borne in mind that these products were not originally designed for the hair loss arena, but other areas of medicine. The side effects are those noticed from administration of these drugs, and in some people may show indications of side effects.
Minoxidil is a drug originally introduced to treat high blood pressure. It was discovered by accident that one of the side effects was hair growth in places such as the forehead, cheeks and on the back of the hands. By applying Minoxidil topically to places where hair growth is desired, some users have had success in regrowth. It is particularly effective in treating male pattern baldness.
It is marketed under the commercial name of
Rogaine, and Minoxidil can be taken internally or applied topically and is approved for both men and women. However, minoxidil will not miraculously restore a full head of hair on a totally bald scalp. Also, any hair that grows with minoxidil use will be lost if the drug treatment is stopped.
Finasteride was originally used to treat enlarged prostate glands. As with Minoxidil, a side effect was hair growth. Finasteride was approved as a treatment for male pattern baldness by the [...]
Tags: FDA, Finasteride, minoxidol, propecia, Rogaine, Thinning Hair
Hair growth, loss and baldness
Hair loss is a big worry to many people, both male and female. If you have a worrying amount of hair in the basin after shampooing, you may think you are on the way to baldness. But this is not usually the case. The 50–100 hairs that everyone loses each day often become tangled with the rest of the hair, but are washed out when we shampoo. So we see what seems like a lot of hair in the basin after shampooing, but in reality these hairs have been shed earlier.
Of course, bald areas are an obvious sign of hair loss, but otherwise it can be difficult to tell whether your hair is getting thinner. To find out, try the ‘tug test’. Hold a small bunch of hair – about 15 or 20 hairs – between the thumb and index finger. Pull slowly and firmly. If more than six hairs come out there may be a problem.
How hair grows.
The portion of the hair that we can see is called the shaft. Each shaft of hair protrudes from its follicle, which is a tube-like pouch just below the surface of the skin. The hair is attached to the base of the follicle by the hair root, which is where the hair actually grows and where it is nourished by tiny blood vessels.
Like the rest of the body, hairs are made of cells. As new cells form at its root, the hair is gradually pushed further and further [...]
Tags: Hair Loss, Male Hair Loss, male pattern baldness, men's hair loss, Womans Hair Loss, womens thinning hair
Hair Loss Reason | Treatment of Hair Loss
Dr. Alec FUNG, Dr. Philip HSIEH, Dr. Walter KING
Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Centre, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital
Hair loss or alopecia roughly accounts for about 1% of all general practice consultation. The hair root below the skin is enclosed within a hair bulb at the base of which is the vascularized dermal papilla which contains receptors for male hormones or androgens. It is now known that the male hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which is converted from testosterone by the enzyme 5 alpha reductase causes hair follicle to become progressively smaller and the hairs to become finer. In individuals genetically predisposed to androgenetic alopecia (male pattern baldness/female pattern baldness), concentrated level of 5 alpha reductase leads to increased DHT in the hair follicle which shrinks with each hair growth cycle consisting of the growth phase (anagen), the transitional phase (catagen) and the resting phase (telogen).
Approximately 95% of all hair loss is due to androgenetic alopecia which can affect both men (Male Pattern Baldness) and women (Female Pattern Baldness). Affected man gradually develops a receding temporal hairline which is followed by thinning of the top of the head. Affected woman usually complains of diffuse hair loss. Other common causes of hair loss include alopecia areata, telogen effluvium (e.g. stress related hair loss), anagen effluvium (chemotherapy or radiation related hair loss), scarring alopecia (dermatoses, trauma, burns), self-induced hair loss and hair loss secondary to underlying diseases (e.g. thyroid dysfunction, fungus infection etc.).
The clinical approach to hair loss [...]
Tags: alopecia areata, androgenetic alopecia, female pattern hairloss, hair loss reason, hair transplantation, male pattern baldness