If you are having the problem of hair loss, this is for you. Firstly, I will brief you about the causes of hair loss and I believe you may not know this much. Most cases of hair loss can be categorized into three:
- Non-cicatricial alopecia: This is a hair loss with changes of regrowth. Examples of this include: Shedding or telogen effluvium (TE), Androgenetic Alopecia (AGA), Alopecia areata (AA), Traction alopecia (caused by pulling hair) and Trichotillomania (TM). You can Get More Information here. Shedding or telogen effluvium (TE) is the most common cause of hair loss and is a premature conversion of growth-phase hair follicles to the resting or shedding phase. There are acute and chronic cases of shedding. In Shedding, patients normally report increased hair on shower drain, clothes or pillow. This means that the daily hair-shed counts are higher than normal. AGA is a common baldness. AGA may be either polygenic or autosomal dominant with variable penetration. AA is hair loss of suspected autoimmune origin with an unpredictable prognosis. AA causes isolated or recurrent patchy hair loss. Traction is another cause and can physically damage the hair shaft and also alter the hair growth circle. If traction is repetitive and chronic, it can result in cicatricial alopecia. Practices like tight braiding, wearing ponytails or elastic hair bands, using rollers, or other devices that place extreme and repetitive stress on the scalp hair are the causes of cicatricial alopecia. Traction alopecia causes sparse hair and hair breakage in the frontal area. Moreso, Trichotillomania (TM) is also a traction alopecia and in this, patient frequently pulls or plucks the hair in a bizarre pattern. The cause however may not be obvious; it can range from an underlying emotional problem to a definite mental disorder.
- Cicatricial alopecia: Cicatricial alopecia is an irreversible hair loss that is associated with the destruction of stem cell reservoir located in the midportion of the follicle. It is caused by a diverse group of cutaneous disorders with a variety of presentations. Common causes are fungal or bacterial folliculitis, discoid lupus erythematosus, lichen planopilaris, skin diseases, trauma, scarring bullous disorders (epidermolysis bullosa, bullous pemphigoid, porphyria cutanea), and neoplastic disease (skin tumors and cutaneous metastasis).
- Shaft abnormalities: This produces fragile and brittle hair. Patients may present with diffuse or patchy areas of short hair and a history of hair that usually will not grow beyond a certain length. Inherited disorders (genodermatoses) and external hair shaft damage can change the hair shaft structure. Repeated trauma to the hair shaft in the form of traction, bleaching, perming, or blow drying is most often the cause of the hair shaft abnormality in adults. However, the most commonly found hair shaft abnormality is trichorrexis nodosa, a nodal area where the hair splits into strands. Trichorrexis nodosa is usually acquired as a result of external damage, but it may be resulted in genetic and metabolic disorders that alter hair keratinization. Treatment of this syndrome is based on removing the cause, when traumatically induced.
