Hair fall, Hair Loss: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment

Given the choice, no one would want to lose their hair. Accepting the physical and emotional aspects of living with hair loss can be daunting and challenging, as the attitude towards baldness, over the ages has always been negative. And moreover, living with hair loss is quite tough in a world where having a healthy crop of hair is considered to be a sign of good and youth. Yet, most of the people out there experience hair loss and are worried about how to overcome it.

Why does hair fall out?

Hair loss can affect only your scalp or your entire body. It can be an outcome of various factors – hormonal changes, heredity, medications, etc. Irrespective of age and gender, anyone can go through hair loss, but it is seen more common in men.

Most of us on an average shed about 100 hairs in a day and this loss does not cause thinning of hair as new hair is growing on your scalp as you lose some. But when the hair loss is quite sudden, it should be a thing to worry. The sudden loss of hair happens, when the cycle of hair growth and the shedding is disrupted, or when hair follicle is destroyed and replaced with scar tissue.

It’s a true fact that hair loss is more experienced by men than women; mostly the factor is attributed to male pattern baldness. The most common cause of baldness is hereditary hair loss with age. But there are some people who would like to prefer to let hair loss run its own course without going for any treatment. There are others who would hide it with makeup, hats or scarves. And there are few who would like to choose hair fall treatments that are easily available to prevent further loss and to restore hair growth.

Let’s look at the symptoms, causes and treatment for Hair loss

Hair Fall Symptoms

Circular bald spots– Bald spots that are of a size of coin and smooth in nature can be experienced by some people. This basically affects just the scalp. Skin can become sometimes become painful or itchy before the hair falls out.

Thinning on the top of head– This is perhaps the most common symptoms of hair loss that affects both men and women as they age. Hair can often start thinning and receding at the forehead.

Excessive hair fall after brushing or showering – It’s common to lose hair after a shower or while you comb your hair. On an average, a person can lose around 100 hairs a day so that means if you notice five to six hairs in your hand after shampooing, you should not be worried about. But then, if you notice an excessive amount of hair is what you are losing out in a day, it could be a reason to worry.

Loosening of hair – If someone has gone through a sudden physical or emotional shock, it can result for hair to loosen. While combing or washing your hair, you can find handfuls of hair coming out – this type of hair loss causes bald patches and hair thinning.

Hair Fall Causes

Heredity – Hereditary condition is one of the most common causes of hair loss and is termed male pattern or female pattern baldness. With aging, it occurs in predictable patterns with a receding hair line in men and thinning of hair in women.

Medications – Taking certain drugs can also cause hair loss as side effects. This can be in the case of cancer, depression, heart problems or high blood pressure.

Medical Conditions – Certain medical conditions can also affect hair loss like that of Alopecia areata, which can cause patchy hair loss, infections in the scalp such as ringworm. There are other conditions also like that of hair pulling disorder called the trichotillomania.

Hormone Imbalances – This is the case with women, who experience hormonal shifts from birth control pills, childbirth, pregnancy, menopause or hysterectomy makes hair follicles to enter the dormant phase than before.

Different hairstyles or treatments: Different hairstyles that require using rubber bands or rollers or pulling hair into tight styles can sometimes inflame hair follicles. Using dyes, bleaches or certain strengtheners can also damage the hair. It all depends upon the degree of damage that results in hair loss.

Stress: It is noticed that physical and psychological stress can often lead to hair loss. High Fever, Surgery, and blood loss can be the major cause of stress to result in large shedding of hair. There are many people who report losing hair when going through extreme mental stress or anxiety. This is psychological stress. But causes of physical stress can be often temporary and the body heals through the physical stress, the hair loss also subsides with it.

Burns and Injuries – Often burns and injuries can also lead to temporary hair loss. But there are chances of hair growing back to normal after the injury is healed unless it leaves a scar. Hair never grows on the scarred part.

Other causes can include

• A poor diet with less protein intake, causing hair loss as hair strains are basically made of protein, keratin.
• Genetic hair loss
• Smoking
• Taking excessive amounts of Vitamin A supplements
• Deficiency of Vitamin B in the body
• A physical trauma resulting in sudden weight loss
• Chemotherapy sessions resulting in complete baldness
• Autoimmune disorders, where our immune system attacks its own healthy cells that include hair follicles.

How is hair loss diagnosed?

Your doctor will try to understand and will ask you certain questions – how much hair you have been losing, the date when it started or whether it is genetic or any other causes. He or she may pull out few hairs for certain tests. If the doctor cannot find out the reason for the hair loss through the question- answer session, he can ask you for a blood test or look at the sample of your hair with a microscope.

How is hair loss treated?

When it comes to choosing a treatment for hair loss, there’s no “one size fits all” treatment. The treatment you choose for hair loss largely depends upon the causes. Your decision for a treatment would be because of baldness or thinning of your hair which is not stopping. In case, the hair loss is because of something that won’t last long or have the chances of your hair growing back, you may not opt for a treatment. Hair loss that is genetic can be treated with the right medicines or you can go for hair transplant surgery.There are some people who would like to not go for any treatment at all but would like to hide it under hairpieces or wigs. And if hair loss is due to something you can always control, like medicine or stress, you can get it treated by getting rid of the cause.

Once you have decided to take the hair loss treatment, think about the following questions

• Which is the best hair loss treatment?
• Which hair loss treatment is likely to work the maximum?
• What are the side effects of the treatment?
• How much will the total cost?
• How long it will last?

Are there chances of the hair growing back?

If your hair loss is hereditary, there are fewer chances of it growing back naturally. Treatments can often help some hair to grow back and prevent it from falling, but then you may not get back all the hair that is lost. Sometimes treatments also do not work for everyone.

When you lose your hair due to strong medicines, stress or other hair damage, there are chances of it growing back after the cause is taken away. But if this does not prove to help, other treatments should be taken.

Hair loss can also lead to depression, especially if it affects how you look, your appearance. If this is the case, taking a hair loss treatment can make you feel better and confident.

The Rootzhair experience

RootzHair,, one of the best hair transplant clinic in Hyderabad is famous for performing hair loss treatment for patients who experience hair loss for various causes – hormonal issues to pattern baldness. We truly understand the effects excessive hair loss can have on the emotional psyche of a person. Doctors at this clinic use the latest of technology for hair restoration and among the various methods, include microscopic follicular unit grafting. The clinics are present in other cities too – Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh and Bangalore, Karnataka. Delivering the best hair solutions with the latest techniques or options for hair restorations, the Trichologists have to its credit over 900+ hair transplants and the clinic has implanted 2,200+ hair replacements systems and performed more than 3,000 PRP procedures.

If you or someone that you know is suffering from excessive hair loss, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today!