WHAT IS HAIRLOSS?

It is quite normal to lose hair as all people lose 50-80 hairs a day. This is called natural shedding. The hairs tend to come out due to brushing and shampooing. However, sometimes, a person start to lose hair more than usual. If this persists, then the scalp can be seen through the thin hair. This condition is called alopecia. For us to make sure that our hair is thinning, we will lose between 40 to 50 per cent of hair in one area. This happens when the capillaries are obstructed. The papilla is damaged or it is genetically programmed to stop producing hair. And because of that, the follicle will not produce any more hair to replace the lost one.

There are basically 3 kinds of hairloss, natural shedding, bald patches and baldness.

BALDNESS

Baldness is the most common type of hairloss among people. Many people would find baldness something embarrassing and distressing. However, baldness is not a disease and therefore, perfectly normal. Baldness is related to the growth cycles of hair follicles. Some of them are able to continue these cycles indefinitely. But a certain group of them are inclined to shut down after a moment. For men, these follicles are located on the temples and at the crown of the head. As for women, the follicles are distributed more diffusely across the top of the scalp.

                         Man losing hairs on the temples    Woman losing hair across the top of the scalp

DIFFUSE HAIR LOSS

Diffuse hairloss is the condition whereby the hair is shed from all parts of the scalp. A great amount of hair has to be lost before the effects become visible. The hair may fall during either the growing (anagen) or the resting (telogen) rate. A sudden diffuse hair lose can be distressing. One cause of the loss of large amounts of hair is the drugs that are taken during cancer treatment. Fortunately, the hair begins to grow back after the treatment finishes. As for women, diffuse hairloss occurs after the birth off the child.

There are other causes of diffuse hair such as,

• High fever
• Blood loss
• Low levels of iron in the diet(possibly)
• Starvation, or drastic dieting
• Dental treatment or a surgical operation
• Certain medicines
• Disorders of the thyroid gland
• Severe and prolonged emotional stress(possibly)

BALD PATCHES

The condition whereby there is a sudden patchy loss of hair is classified as alopecia areata. The sufferers may be affected with thinning patches on the scalp, but sometimes the disorder become so widespread and too severe that all the hairs on the body are affected or maybe lost. No one knows what causes alopecia areata. It will usually disappear without any treatment. Alopecia areata is not rare. One person in every thousand can expect to suffer from it at some time on their lives.

                                                         A person suffering from alopecia areata

BALD GALLERY