Hair loss: Who gets and causes

Table Of Content

• Fast facts about balding
• Procedures to help regrow hair
• Best Overall: Rogaine Women’s 5% Minoxidil Foam
• Skin conditions

A typical hair transplant involves removing patches of hair from your head and reinserting the hair follicle by follicle into the bald sections. It’s best to see a healthcare professional for any unexplained hair loss so they can determine the underlying cause and best course of treatment. Over-the-counter (OTC) medications generally consist of topical creams, gels, solutions, or foams that you apply directly to the scalp. The most common products contain an ingredient called minoxidil.

Fast facts about balding

If finasteride works for you, you will need to keep taking it to continue getting results. Before taking this medication, be sure to discuss possible side effects with your dermatologist. After 12 weeks of treatment, the patients treated with minoxidil and microneedling had significantly more hair growth. A treatment plan for hair loss may include one or more of the following. Once your dermatologist finds the cause(s), your dermatologist will tell you whether treatment is recommended.

Procedures to help regrow hair

If you receive chemotherapy or have radiation treatment to your head or neck, you may lose all (or most of) your hair within a few weeks of starting treatment. “While it’s true there are pharmaceutical and cosmetic developments that can help you address your physical appearance concerns, each comes with its own set of positives and negatives. Always talk with your doctor before you consider any treatments. Topical minoxidil (Rogaine) and finasteride (Propecia) are the only drugs approved by the FDA to treat pattern baldness. The occurrence and development of androgenetic alopecia depends on the interaction of endocrine factors and your genetic predisposition. So if your dad or uncle are bald, chances are good you can’t escape a similar fate.

Best Overall: Rogaine Women’s 5% Minoxidil Foam

This patient developed AT after experiencing widespread hair loss (A). AT is more common in children and young adults but can occur at any age. Some people might see hair loss that starts at their temples, while others might notice a change in their hairline. This means that not everyone with hair loss will experience every sign of balding.

Healthy Aging

There are both prescription and over-the-counter drugs approved for the treatment of male pattern baldness. One in four men may start losing their hair before age 21, and this proportion increases with age. Medication, laser therapy, and surgery can help reduce hair loss.

What is baldness?

You may need more than one surgery to get the effect you want. Hereditary hair loss will eventually progress despite surgery. The most common form of hair restoration surgery — transplanting follicles from elsewhere on the head — doesn’t always work. And transplanted hair follicles may not continue to produce healthy hair growth for a long time.

This works well for people with inherited baldness since they typically lose hair on the top of the head. Because some hair loss can be progressive, you may need multiple procedures over time. Typically, the most common types of hair loss are treated with topical or oral medications, which will likely be the first course of treatment. There’s a range of treatment options for hair loss, but the best option for you will depend on what’s causing your hair loss.

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It has been almost three years since I bought an electric razor from Argos and buzzed the whole lot off. By Sarah Jividen, RNJividen is a freelance healthcare journalist. She has over a decade of direct patient care experience working as a registered nurse specializing in neurotrauma, stroke, and the emergency room. Hair loss can start as early as your teenage years or might not occur until you’re well past retirement. While alopecia doesn’t typically affect your physical health, the emotional and psychological distress it can cause are very real. Yes, hair tends to regrow when you are no longer exposed to the poison.

Skin conditions

Also known as hereditary hair loss because it tends to run in families, androgenetic alopecia is the most common cause of hair loss from the scalp. Corticosteroid injections into areas of patchy hair loss on the scalp may help revive hair growth within several weeks in people with alopecia areata. Research suggests it's effective for about 40% of women with this condition. Understanding the cause of thinning hair is crucial for effective treatment because different causes require different approaches.

More significant hair loss often happens when people reach their 60s and beyond. Another type of hair loss causes your part line, the line where your hair splits on the top of your head, to widen and pull apart. If you have alopecia, you can help hold onto your tresses by avoiding behaviors that are known to contribute to temporary and permanent hair loss, Mirmirani says. Generally speaking, the sooner you start treatment, the more options you have and the better your results, dermatologists say.

A common cause of this imbalance is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). It leads to cysts on a woman’s ovaries, along with other signs and symptoms, which can include hair loss. Stopping some types of birth control pills can cause a temporary hormonal imbalance. Women who develop a hormonal imbalance can develop thinning hair (or hair loss) on their scalp. Oral finasterides (FNS) are synthetic compounds that block the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

An entire quadrant of the scientific community seems to exist solely to remind balding men how bad their lives are. Last year, a study was published entitled ‘The Psychological Consequences Of Androgenetic Alopecia’ (the fancy term for male pattern baldness), and the results were stark. Men who were losing their hair, it found, were consumed by bad feelings, including the fear that others would notice, feeling less attractive and getting teased by their peers.

Start with a stabilisation drug, then once it loses its efficacy, bump it up to dut. Then eventually start using minoxidil as a trump card. Whatever the cause of your hair loss, seeking medical attention from your primary care doctor or a dermatologist can help you identify underlying causes.