It is normal to lose between 50-100 hairs a day, this is part of the hair renewal process. However most people suffer from excessive hair loss at one time in their life. There are many reasons for this including medication, radiation, chemotherapy, exposure to chemicals, hormonal and nutritional factors, thyroid disease, generalized or local skin disease, and stress.
Many of these causes are temporary and a few are permanent. These are some of the more common reason for hair loss.
HORMONAL BEHAVIOUR
Since hormones both stimulate hair growth and cause hair loss, hormonal changes by far have the biggest impact on hair loss. These can affect both men and women in the following ways:
This is the most common cause of thinning and affects both men and women. Men generally have hair loss concentrated in a specific pattern from the front through to the crown. Women tend to have thinning throughout their head without being in any specific pattern. This type of hair loss is caused by the androgen DHT, or Dihydrotestosterone. Since everyone has DHT that is produced by their bodies and only some people suffer from hair loss there has to be another factor involved. This other factor is having follicles that have a greater number of Androgen receptors for the DHT to attach to. This is the component that is inherited through the hair transplant london genes. To date the most effective preventative treatments are anti androgens, drugs that prevent the creation of DHT. In the future gene therapy will one day be able to alter the genes to prevent the follicles from being affected by DHT.
ChildbirthAfter pregnancy many women experience a loss of hair, this is caused many hair simultaneously entering the resting (telogen) phase. Within two to three months after giving birth, some women will notice large amounts of hair coming out in their brushes and combs. This can last one to six months, but resolves completely in most cases. This condition is caused by the hormonal changes that take place after a woman’s body recovers from her pregnancy.
Birth control pillsWomen who have a genetic predisposition to suffer from Androgenic Alopecia can have it occur at a much younger age by taking birth control pills. The hormonal changes that occur trigger the onset of the Androgenic Alopecia. If a woman has a history of female pattern loss in her family she should advise her doctor before going on the pill. After the discontinuation of the pill the woman may notice that her hair begins shedding two or three months later. This may continue for six months when it usually stops. In some cases the process cannot be reversed and the woman may not regrow some of the hair that was lost.
