Why Does a Person's Hair Fall Out?
Every day people find their hair on their pillows, the bathroom floor and in the tub after a shower. Yet they're not going bald. What makes one person's normal hair loss someone else's potential combover?
Normal Hair Loss
Everyone loses some hair every day. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, most hair loss is simply part of the normal hair cycle. Since you have about 100,000 hairs on your head, shedding 50 to 100 strands per day is nothing to worry about. Besides, after a hair falls out, a new one grows in its place, and the cycle begins again.
Pregnant women tend to shed less, resulting in thicker, more luxurious locks. However, this extra hair will fall out in the three months after they've given birth, which is normal as well.
Temporary Excessive Hair Loss
There are many different possible causes for excessive hair loss, whether temporary or permanent.
A cause of temporary hair loss may be alopecia areata, a disease that causes hair loss in quarter-sized patches on the scalp. Another is telogen effluvium, which occurs suddenly. When brushing or washing your hair, handfuls may come out, causing thinning, but not bald patches. Finally, traction alopecia may occur due to certain constrictive hairstyles, such as pigtails, braids or cornrows, or from tight rollers.
Permanent Excessive Hair Loss
Perhaps the most well-known cause of permanent hair loss is male-pattern baldness. But while for some men it doesn't begin until middle age, for some men it might start as early as their teens or 20s, and may lead to complete baldness.
With female-pattern baldness, women usually experience more limited hair loss-thinning at the front, sides or crown-and usually keep their hairline. Women rarely experience complete baldness.
For both male- and female-pattern baldness, heredity may play a key role. A history of this type of baldness on either side of the family increases your risk for it.
A more rare cause of excessive hair loss is cicatricial (scarring) alopecia, which occurs when inflammation damages and scars the hair follicle, causing permanent hair loss. The sufferer may experience itching or pain as well.
Treatments
There are a variety of treatments for excessive hair loss. Medications are available both over the counter and with a prescription. Minoxidil is available without a prescription, and comes in a liquid or foam form that's rubbed into the scalp twice daily.
Finasteride is a prescription medication that is taken daily in pill form. While approved by the Food & Drug Administration to treat male pattern baldness, it's not approved for women. Women of childbearing age especially shouldn't take this medication; pregnant woman shouldn't even handle the pills as absorption may cause birth defects. If you're thinking about taking Finasteride, definitely talk to your doctor first to see if it's right for you.
Other doctor-prescribed treatments include monthly cortisone injections into the scalp, corticosteroid pills and ointments and creams containing corticosteriods, though these tend to be less effective than injections.
Another way excessive hair loss may be treated is with surgery, such as hair transplants and scalp reduction. With a hair transplant, plugs of skin containing strands of hair are moved to bald sections. A scalp reduction decreases the area of bald skin on your head. Keep in mind these types of surgery can be both painful and expensive. Be sure to consult with your doctor before moving forward.
Alternatives
A far more cost-effective and painless alternative to surgery are wigs and hairpieces. While this may conjure up images of your Uncle Murray's bad toupee, nowadays high-quality and natural-looking hairpieces are widely available.
Many men choose not to treat or hide their baldness, including celebrities such as Bruce Willis, Patrick Stewart, Michael Jordan, Vin Diesel and Taye Diggs. For some, excessive hair loss is not only a fact of life they've accepted, but a fashion statement as well.
Unfortunately for women, near or complete baldness may not be as socially acceptable. Perhaps this will change in the future.
