Hair loss has very serious psychological consequences. Anxiety, lack of self-esteem, social phobia, depression, and even, identity loss are among them. It is no surprise therefore that a lot of dermatological sessions and consultations have hair loss as the main subject.
What are the most common causes?
It’s normal daily to lose 50 to 100 hairs. However, if this number is exceeded then we need to pull an alarm signal, and before we say “it’s my nervous system,” we should let’s review the general causes and reasons of hair loss:
- Hormonal Imbalances: Thyroid disorders, androgen excess, polycystic ovarian syndrome and even pregnancy or interrupting them;
- An unbalanced and poor diet in vitamins and with several mineral deficiencies (such as zinc and iron), calories or protein is represented also by inadequate and poor nutrition of hair that will easily break and fall losing your hair due to its weak roots;
- Physical or psychological shock: what should be noted is that your hair can start falling after many weeks from the time when the event occurred and not immediately;
- Oral contraceptives: can also cause hair loss at the beginning of treatment change or discontinuation of treatment;
- Other medicinal products: cytostatics, hipocolesterolemiantele, certain antihypertensives and retinoids.
- Seasonal changes: you don’t have to worry too much because the loss of hair will be replaced quickly;
- Aggressive care: hot styling devices and loading your hair with too much styling hair products can seriously damage your hair and you will lose it.
It is extremely important to determine the cause in order to initiate a personalized treatment. A minimum of blood tests are needed if it fails to highlight a cause:
- Serum ferritin (a measure of iron deposits), serum iron (low blood iron) and total iron binding capacity, iron deficiency is the most common cause of hair loss in young women;
- TSH, T3 and T4: to evaluate thyroid function;
- Total testosterone and DHEAS: for possible androgen excess;
- Ovarian ultrasound: to exclude polycystic ovaries.
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What treatments can be applied?
1. In case of nutritional deficiencies or seasonal changes, the appropriate treatment is the dietary supplements, especially for hair, skin and nails, which will come with the necessary amount of amino acids, vitamins and minerals (Revalid, Viaderm, Phytophanere, Cysteine B6)
2. When the culprit is a particular drug, including oral contraceptives, stop taking it, is sufficient to resolve the situation.
3. Endocrine deficiencies will be treated only with the endocrinologist.
4. Characteristics of the structure of the hair, the growth rate and density per square centimeter are genetically determined and cannot be influenced by products that act only in the epidermis, such as various shampoos, conditioners and hair masks that promise to stop hair loss. The only case in which these products are effective is that the hair is damaged due to drying and thinning and breaks.
Minoxidil based products in concentrations of 2-5% can be used as a local adjuvant. Hair loss shampoos are effective only as complementary treatment of local solutions and not used separately, they unable to penetrate the hair root.
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