July 2006 - Posts
You probably understand that a poor diet that lacks in essential nutrients can negatively affect your overall health. What you may not know is that deficiencies of particular vitamins or other substances can cause you to lose your hair.
Hair loss that is caused by a nutritional deficiency is usually slight and temporary, with the exception of some extreme cases where the hair loss becomes chronic and results in permanent damage to the density and strength of the hair. These kinds of hair loss occur because your hair’s structure or hair cycles are affected.
Protein deficiency is one of the most common causes of diet-related hair loss. Your hair is composed mostly of proteins, the same materials that your nails are composed of. If your food does not provide you with enough protein then both your nails and your hair may be negatively affected. Proteins are found in common foods like meats, poultry, fish, beans and dairy products. If a protein-deficient diet persists than your hair will go into a premature resting stage and will start to fall out within a few months.
Another possible cause of diet-related hair loss is low levels of iron in your blood, which might result from an inadequate amount of iron in your diet. Foods that are common sources of iron include potatoes, dried beans, liver, beef, fortified cereals, raisins, spinach and broccoli. An inadequate amount of iron in your blood may also result from some difficulty your body has in absorbing iron, which is commonly associated with the condition anemia.
Vitamin A can also affect your hair. But both an inadequate and an excessive amount of vitamin A can cause hair loss. Too little of this vitamin can result in a condition called hyperkeratosis. It occurs in your hair follicles and in the sebaceous glands (the small glands in your skin that secrete oil into your hair) and it can complicate hair growth. Conversely, too much vitamin A can prevent proper keratinisation (the process by which a protein called keratin builds your hair and nails), resulting in a kind of hair loss referred to as ‘toxic alopecia’. Vitamin A can be found in whole eggs, milk and liver.
Other nutritional deficiencies that can affect your hair growth include deficiencies of: essential fatty acids, zinc, copper and vitamin C.
Fortunately, the damage done to hair by this type of diet-related hair loss is only temporary and can be corrected by simply improving your diet. It is important to maintain a balance of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in your diet for the betterment of your hair’s health as well as your overall health. If you allow poor dietary habits to persist, your body may suffer many possible consequences including varying degrees of hair loss.
There are many cases of hypotrichosis (the less than normal growth of hair on the head or body) that occurs due to genetic skin diseases, which are called genodermatoses. One of these is the condition referred to as ‘trichodental syndrome’. This syndrome is characterized by hypotrichosis, as already mentioned, and fine, dry and lusterless hair that grows slowly. It is also accompanied by a condition called hypodontia, where the patient is born with less than the normal number of teeth. Incidentally, the external halves of the eyebrows are also missing.
The condition falls into the category of telogenic alopecias. This means that with trichodental syndrome, more than 50 per cent of the scalp’s hairs are in the telogen, or resting, phase of the hair cycle at any given time. This is the amount of hair that will routinely fall out. The percentage for the average individual is only 10 per cent.
There are many conditions and means by which any person can have less hair than should be expected. Many cases of hair loss are due to androgenic alopecia (male or female pattern baldness), but some are the result of more serious and life-altering conditions. All cases of hair loss that seem abnormal should be discussed with a medical professional.
It is not uncommon to see men and women who have experienced some slight hair loss due to prolonged exposure to the sun and its ultraviolet radiation. Some 3 to 4 months after vacationing in a very sunny place, an individual of either sex may notice that they are excessively shedding hair from their frontal regions and along the hairline. He or she may also notice some slightly increased shedding in other areas as well.
This hair loss may be due to the temperature increase similar to that seen in cases of hair loss that occur after a severe fever or it may be related to the inflammatory phenomena caused by sunburn, if there is evidence of such.
In most cases, hair loss from too much exposure to the sun is not permanent and should resolve itself. But this kind of hair loss can be avoided by keeping your scalp properly covered while out in the sun for long periods of time.
There is a common misconception that only men suffer from genetic hair loss. In actuality, however, almost 40 per cent of all females will experience some degree of female androgenic alopecia (FAGA) as they age. Like male pattern baldness, FAGA also goes by the name female pattern baldness, because of the common pattern that the hair loss usually follows.
Women with FAGA tend to experience a progressive thinning of the scalp hair only around the crown area. It is also usually more diffuse and central than male genetic hair loss; and it is often referred to as a ‘widened part’. Less commonly, women may have a receding hairline similar to that seen in balding men. It is unlikely that female genetic hair loss will result in total baldness, though it does occur.
FAGA is caused by similar chemical causes to male pattern baldness. Both are related to the action of androgens (male hormones). In fact, many cases of hyperandrogenism (the excessive production of male hormones) that are due to other factors trigger the onset of female genetic hair loss. Treatment for both types of genetic hair loss may focus on this chemical cause, however, the current leading drug treatment for female hair loss is Rogaine, which does not target the action of androgens.
There are other ways that women can suffer from hair loss, including the influence of hormones, disease, diet or drug usage. But FAGA continues to be the most common type of hair loss among women. Fortunately, many treatment options are available, including the use of Rogaine, as well as surgical treatment, which offers a permanent, effective solution to almost any kind of hair loss including female androgenic alopecia.
There are a variety of ways that cancer or the treatment of cancer can affect your hair and may result in some degree of hair loss. Like most hair loss that accompanies a disease or drug usage, the hair loss should only last as long as the cause of the loss.
There is a rare type of hair loss that occurs when a cancer spreads from somewhere else in the body to the scalp. It is called neoplasic alopecia because the word neoplasic comes from the word ‘neoplasm’, which means tumor, but it may also go by the name metastatic alopecia because the word metastatic comes from the word metastasis, which refers to the spread of cancer.
The susceptibility of the scalp to neoplasic alopecia is higher for women with breast cancer and for men with lung cancer in particular, as opposed to other types of cancer. It is believed that mucines, a certain kind of protein created by breast and lung carcinoma, degenerate the cells of the outer root sheath of the hair follicle. There are cases, however, of cancer spreading from the breast to the scalp without any evidence of hair loss.
Ovarian and adrenal tumors are also likely to cause hair loss. Both types of tumors can cause hyperandrogenism, which is the excessive production of androgens (male hormones). Androgens are known to play a key role in male and female pattern baldness. Once the tumor has been removed, however, the hair loss should go away.
Finally, all cancer-fighting drugs attack the body in order to destroy the cancer cells. This means that any cancer-fighting drug, like chemotherapy, will also attack the body’s hair follicles and cause them to fall out and result in considerable hair loss. Fortunately, when the treatment ends, so should the hair loss.
In the past, there has been a general philosophy to do smaller number of grafts per session. I have found, as in one of my repair cases today from London, UK, that after 800 or so grafts, the patient has almost no outcome that he is happy with. The donor scar is usually not just superficial, but goes down much deeper. The fibrosis extends both vertically and horizontally. The need to repair him is obvious in the front. However, the tissue now is tougher to work with both in the recipient area and the donor area.
Therefore, it’s better to do larger sessions for many reasons.
The three obvious reasons are:
- Better cosmetic results; more pleasing to the patient.
- Lesser scarring, and therefore, less damage to his donor area. In this way, he or she has greater donor reserve.
- Lesser number of procedures needed.
This new philosophy will eventually overtake the smaller session surgeries. It is in the interest of the patient to obtain the best results with the least damage.
First described in 1984, loose anagen syndrome affects an unknown number of people and usually goes undetected. It remains one of the many varied and generally unexpected forms of hair loss. It is a disease of the hair that predominantly affects young, Caucasian, blonde girls, although anyone is susceptible to this type of hair loss. There may be some genetic susceptibility as well.
The characterizing symptom of loose anagen syndrome is the ability of anagen hair (hair that grows during the anagen, or growth, phase of the hair) to be pulled easily and painlessly out of the scalp. A microscopic examination of this type of easily extracted hair shows several key characteristics: there is a marked distortion of the anagen bulb on the hair follicle, ruffling of the cuticle distal to the bulb and absent sheaths. There is a structural abnormality to the inner root sheath of the hair follicle that disturbs its anchoring function and thus makes it easier for the hair follicle to be pulled out. Diagnosis of loose anagen syndrome consists of a review of patient’s history, a clinical examination and a light microscopic examination of the easily extracted hair.
It has also been found that there is an association between loose anagen syndrome and other developmental defects, which may include: Noonan’s syndrome, Nail-patella syndrome, Tricho-rhino-phalangeal syndrome or Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia.
In children ages 2 to 5 years with loose anagen syndrome, the condition is usually identified by the inability of the hair to grow past the ears, though the density is usually unremarkable and the hair is not particularly fragile otherwise. If one were to pull at a cluster of hairs, 15 to 20 hairs are likely to be painlessly extracted. Hair loss as a result of loose anagen syndrome can be distinguished from alopecia areata (unexplained hair loss) by the fact that hair lost from loose anagen syndrome grows back very quickly.
Treatment for loose anagen syndrome is usually unnecessary, as even loose anagen hair will grow, albeit slowly, and if it is accidentally pulled out it grows back very quickly. However, a topical minoxidil solution, like that found in Rogaine, may be used to hasten hair quality if desired. If the syndrome does not seem to be accompanied by any other developmental defects, there is no need for further extensive hormonal and metabolic studies to be done.
There is a common misconception that only men suffer from genetic hair loss. In actuality, however, almost 40 per cent of all females will experience some degree of female androgenic alopecia (FAGA) as they age. Like male pattern baldness, FAGA also goes by the name female pattern baldness, because of the common pattern that the hair loss usually follows.
Women with FAGA tend to experience a progressive thinning of the scalp hair only around the crown area. It is also usually more diffuse and central than male genetic hair loss; and it is often referred to as a ‘widened part’. Less commonly, women may have a receding hairline similar to that seen in balding men. It is unlikely that female genetic hair loss will result in total baldness, though it does occur.
FAGA is caused by similar chemical causes to male pattern baldness. Both are related to the action of androgens (male hormones). In fact, many cases of hyperandrogenism (the excessive production of male hormones) that are due to other factors trigger the onset of female genetic hair loss. Treatment for both types of genetic hair loss may focus on this chemical cause, however, the current leading drug treatment for female hair loss is Rogaine, which does not target the action of androgens.
There are other ways that women can suffer from hair loss, including the influence of hormones, disease, diet or drug usage. But FAGA continues to be the most common type of hair loss among women. Fortunately, many treatment options are available, including the use of Rogaine, as well as surgical treatment, which offers a permanent, effective solution to almost any kind of hair loss including female androgenic alopecia.
Hair loss can result from the onset of various types of cancer or as a side effect of a tumor and even the treatment of cancer with drugs like chemotherapy can cause you to lose hair. Like most hair loss that accompanies a disease or drug usage, the hair loss should only last as long as the cause of the loss.
Hair loss as neoplasic alopecias: This is a rare type of hair loss that occurs when a cancer spreads from somewhere else in the body to the scalp. It is called neoplasic alopecia because the word neoplasic comes from the word ‘neoplasm’, which means tumor, but it may also go by the name metastatic alopecia because the word metastatic comes from the word metastasis, which refers to the spread of cancer.
The susceptibility of the scalp to neoplasic alopecia is higher for women with breast cancer and for men with lung cancer in particular, as opposed to other types of cancer. It is believed that mucines, a certain kind of protein created by breast and lung carcinoma, degenerate the cells of the outer root sheath of the hair follicle. There are cases, however, of cancer spreading from the breast to the scalp without any evidence of hair loss.
Neoplasic alopecia is considered to be so closely related to signs of breast cancer that it is common practice for women over the age of 40 who show signs of alopecia areata (sudden unexplained hair loss) to undergo a breast examination. In these cases the hair loss could be a sign of carcinoma before the cancer is clinically detected.
Hair loss from tumors: Ovarian and adrenal tumors are also likely to cause hair loss. Both types of tumors can cause hyperandrogenism, which is the excessive production of androgens (male hormones). Androgens are known to play a key role in male and female pattern baldness. Once the tumor has been removed, however, the hair loss should go away.
Scalp tumors are another possibility of tumors affecting your hair. Although slow growing scalp tumors are a rare cause of hair loss, they can still affect the hair and scalp in other ways. Benign scalp tumors can result in growths on and around your scalp in relation to any number of the various components of the hair follicle, the sebaceous gland (the small glands in your scalp that secrete oil and fatty substances) or the skin of the scalp itself. Any of these kinds of growths can affect the growth of your hair and the structure and health of your scalp in many ways, including bald patches or diffuse shedding of the hair.
Hair loss due to cancer-fighting drugs: All cancer-fighting drugs attack the body in order to destroy the cancer cells. This means that any cancer-fighting drug, like chemotherapy, will also attack the body’s hair follicles and cause them to fall out and result in considerable hair loss. Fortunately, when the treatment ends, so should the hair loss.