Common Causes of Hair Loss (and possible solutions)

Everyone loses some hair every day. Losing one hundred hairs a day is normal. But what if you are loosing more hair?

What To Look For:

*Hereditary:  In most cases, hair loss is inherited, which means it’s passed down from one or both of your parents. This is called male-pattern or female-pattern hair loss. Men generally develop bald spots on the forehead area or on the top of the head, while women have an overall thinning of the hair throughout the scalp. About half of all people have inherited hair loss by about 50 years of age.  Treatments include Rogaine 5% twice daily – takes 4 months to see results, Propecia oral prescription for men, and hair transplantation, which can be very successful.  A trial of Nizoral 2% shampoo may be suggested.  Ways to make your hair seem thicker include semi-permanent color, volumizing products, and certain hair styles. There are no restrictions on washing, coloring, or combing.  Blow drying is fine, but avoid hot irons.     

*Stress: This includes physical stress from surgery, childbirth, illness, or high fever.  You may have a lot of hair loss 4 weeks to 3 months after the stress. Your hair usually will grow back within a few months, unless you have a severe chronic illness. 

*Medications:  Possible culprits include chemotherapy, certain hormonal contraceptives (Depo-Provera, Ortho Evra, Nuva Ring), beta blockers, certain anti-depressants, ACE inhibitor blood pressure drugs, Coumadin, thyroid medications, amphetamines, and nicotinic acid.  Certain oral contraceptives cause hair loss when they are stopped.

*Poor diet or a crash diet.  This is especially true if there is not enough protein or iron. Foods like walnuts, canola oil, fish, and soy are good for you.  Add iron-rich foods to your diet. Foods containing vitamin B12 – including eggs and meat – are important.  Green tea may help.  Biotin, up to 3 mg daily, in supplement form is a big help for hair and nails. If iron deficiency or anemia is thought to be the cause, we can order a CBC, serum iron, serum ferritin, and total iron binding capacity blood work to check. Less commonly, zinc, biotin, and vitamin B12 can be checked.

*Thyroid disease:  We can do a thyroid profile to check (blood work).

*Hormonal disease: Tell us if you have irregular periods, infertility, acne, increased facial hair growth, or polycystic ovarian syndrome.  We can check hormone levels (DHEAS, free and total testosterone, prolactin).

*Other causes: seborrheic dermatitis (inflamed, itchy scalp), pulling your hair back too tightly or wearing tight braids or ponytails, ringworm, alopecia areata – an autoimmune disease, diseases such as lupus, syphilis, or cancer, and scalp injury.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call the office 242-8790 in Viera or 674-9094 in Melbourne.