Hair Fall and Hair Thining

If you’ve been noticing more hairs on your pillow or hairbrush than normal, you may worry that you have hair loss. Baldness typically refers to excessive hair loss from your scalp. Hair loss can appear in many different ways, depending on what’s causing it. It can come on suddenly or gradually.

What are the different types of hair fall?

1. Telogen Effluvium:It is a temporary hair loss due to the excessive shedding of resting or telogen hair after some shock to the system. New hair continues to grow. telogen effluvium can affect people of all age groups and both sexes. Triggers include:

Childbirth: postpartum hair loss
Physiological neonatal hair loss
Acute or chronic illness, especially if there is fever
Surgery
Psychological stress
Weight loss, or nutritional deficiency
Endocrine disorder like hyper/hypothyroid
Excessive sun exposure

2. Involutional alopecia: natural condition in which the hair gradually thins with age. More hair follicles go into the resting phase, and the remaining hairs become shorter and fewer in number.

3. Androgenic Alopecia: It’s a genetic condition that can affect both men and women. In males its characterized by a receding hairline and gradual disappearance of hair from the crown and frontal scalp. Women experience a general thinning over the entire scalp, with the most extensive hair loss at the crown.

4. Alopecia Areata: It often starts suddenly and causes patchy hair loss in children and young adults.

5. Trichotillomania: seen most frequently in children, is a psychological disorder in which a person pulls out one’s own hair.

6. Scarring alopecia: Inflammatory skin conditions (cellulitis, folliculitis, acne), and other skin disorders (such as some forms of lupus and lichen planus) often result in scars that destroy the ability of the hair to regenerate.

What are the causes of hair fall?

Hormomes: Abnormal level of androgens can trigger the hair fall.
Genetic
Drugs, including chemotherapy drugs, blood thinners, beta-adrenergic blockers and birth control pills, can cause temporary hair loss.
Cosmetic procedures: perms, bleaching, and dyeing hair can contribute to overall hair thinning by making hair weak and brittle. Tight braiding, using rollers or hot curlers, and running hair picks through tight curls can also damage and break hair.
Protein deficiency: Low protein/restricted calorie diet
Medical conditions. Thyroid disease, lupus, diabetes, iron deficiency anemia, eating disorders, and anemia can cause hair loss.