Diffuse Hair Fall Treatment

Normal hair grows in cycles and goes through 3 stages:

• A growing phase
• A resting phase
• A falling phase

At any time, it may be normal for a person to lose as many as 50 hairs a day and these usually show up on a comb or brush or at the bottom of the bathtub or sink especially after washing your hair Hair grows at 1 to 2 cm a month.

When does hair loss become abnormal ?

Your hair loss may be abnormal if you are losing more than 100 hairs a day. This may result in a general thinning of hair or in a patchy loss of hair over the scalp and other hair bearing areas such as the beard or eyebrows.

What are the different kinds of hair loss ?

Androgenetic Alopecia - this is the commonest cause of hair loss in both men and women. It is commonly known as male pattern baldness. It is caused by a combination of 3 factors - Testosterone (the male hormone), age (after 20 years of age) and hereditary. It usually affects women later in life than men.

Alopecia Areata - this usually results in a patchy loss of hair. The exact cause is unknown.

Telogen Effluvium - diffuse loss of hair which may occur 2 to 4 months following childbirth or from high fever, acute illness, physical and emotional stress and crash dieting.

Chronic Illness - eg. iron and other dietary deficiencies. Thyroid diseases, syphilis and connective tissue disease are examples which may cause hair loss.

Scalp Diseases - fungal and bacterial infection, and other local scalp diseases.

Excessive traction on the hair - for example tight curling and hair styles (corn-braiding, pony-tails).

Drug Induced - anti-cancer drugs and anticoagulants are some of the drugs which may cause hair loss.

What shall I do when I have abnormal hair loss ?

If you feel your hair loss is excessive you should consult your doctor. He will try to find the cause of your hair loss and may be able to treat any causative medical conditions.
Use a wide-tooth comb and avoid brushes.
Avoid curlers and excessive traction with curlers. It is advisable to keep your hairstyle short and avoid heating/ ironing treatments

Be wary of what others may offer you in terms of hair treatment and cure. When in doubt, seek the advice of a doctor.
Hair weaving is another cosmetic therapy.
Hair transplantation is a complex procedure and requires a skilled surgeon to perform. At our Centre, the doctor will decide on the cause of your hair loss and give the appropriate medication and treatment.

Diffuse hair loss in women

It has been estimated that the scalp normally contains about 100,000 hairs, of which an average 100 hairs are shed daily. This includes hair shed during bathing, grey hair and the smaller finer hair from the hairline and temples which are shed unnoticed. So you may only count 40-50 hair shed each day in your hair brush, your clothes and around your house.

Hair follicles undergo a cyclical and repetitive sequence of growth and rest known as the hair cycle. The growing hair is called the Anagen hair. Over the scalp, the anagen hair continues to grow for 2-6 years; sometimes up to 10 years in women who are capable of growing their hair very long. The anagen hair then goes through a transitional Catagen phase, and finally becomes the resting Telogen hair, which lasts for 3-5 months. At the end of this phase, the telogen hair is eventually shed off, at a rate of 100 telogen hair per day. When women complain of diffuse hair loss, this condition is called Telogen Effluvium. Here there is a 2-3 times increase in the normal hair shedding. It may resolve spontaneously within 6 months ( AcuteTelogen Effluvium/ ATE ) or it may persist longer ( Chronic Telogen Effluvium/ CTE ).

CTE is generally a self-limiting condition. This is not a state of actual hair loss or hair thinning. Rather, it is a state of increased hair shedding. To a casual observer, the patient seems to have a full head of hair, although the patient herself is alarmed at the large quantities of hair shed.

This condition is very common after the age of 50 or 60. It is also experienced after child birth, any major illness or surgery, chronic physical or mental stress, medical conditions like anemia, lupus or thyroid disorders, and with certain medications. Sometimes it may be idiopathic, i.e, no cause may be apparent. CTE runs a fluctuating course over several years with periods of waxing and waning. It almost NEVER progresses to actual balding. When there is no apparent cause, or when it happens in women under 40 years of age, or when the excessive hair shedding has persisted for over 3 months, then treatment is warranted to quickly arrest the process. As mentioned earlier, it is a self – limiting condition which resolves spontaneously over a period of time. The resolution can be hastened by therapy in selected patients. When a specific cause can be found through blood tests, treating the cause can reverse the excessive hair shedding.