The average normal person sheds about 70-100 hairs per day, while an equal amount of hair is regenerated, and this dynamic balance can maintain a normal amount of hair. When the hair growth is abnormal or excessive shedding for various reasons makes the number of hair decrease significantly, it will affect people’s image aesthetically and even bring serious psychological burden.
Here are the common types of hair loss.
Androgenetic alopecia.
Also known as seborrheic alopecia, commonly known as “baldness”, is the most common type of hair loss. The disease is mostly seen in young and middle-aged men, the initial manifestation of the hair on both sides of the forehead is slender, thinning, gradually extending to the top of the head, the frontal hairline receding backward, the forehead becomes high M-shaped. With the gradual development of hair loss, the frontal and top of the head hair loss can be fused with each other, and in severe cases, only the occipital and two temporal residual hair, “Mediterranean” performance. In women, the disease is relatively mild, mainly manifesting as diffuse thinning of hair on the top of the head, but the forehead hairline does not move up, resembling a “Christmas tree”-like change, but rarely occurs on top of the total baldness. Most patients have greasy hair and may have a lot of dandruff, usually with no conscious symptoms or itching, and some have dry hair that lacks luster. The rate and extent of hair loss varies from person to person, with most progressing slowly.
Androgenetic alopecia
Alopecia areata.
It is commonly known as “ghost shaving”. The disease can occur at any age, but is more common in young adults, with no significant difference in the onset between men and women. The hair loss area is smooth, without inflammation, scaling, or scarring, and the “exclamation point”-like hairs are often visible at the edges, which can easily fall off when gently pulled. Initially, the hair loss area is a small patch, which may appear as one or several patches at the same time, without obvious conscious symptoms, and may fuse with each other to form irregular patches. When all the hair is lost, it is called total baldness. When all the hair on the body (including body hair) is lost, it is called generalized baldness. Most of the baldness can be recovered. New hair growth, in the form of fine, yellowish-white hairs, gradually becomes thicker and darker until it returns to normal.
Alopecia areata, gray hair caused by baldness, pooch baldness
Postpartum hair loss.
It is mainly manifested as hair loss in the forehead and hairline area, which occurs in about 35% to 45% of mothers about 3 months after delivery, and can also be seen about 7 months after delivery. Postpartum hair loss belongs to the resting hair loss, is a physiological phenomenon, and the maternal body hormone level, mental factors and lifestyle changes have a certain relationship, generally the more birth times the more serious hair loss. The disease will improve on its own in 6 to 9 months after delivery, and the longest time is not more than 1 year, and after that it can be self-healing, so there is no need for excessive tension and special treatment.
Postpartum hair loss
Hair pulling fetish.
Some patients have a bad habit of plucking their normal growing hair with their fingers. As the hair is repeatedly plucked out, a bald area is formed, much like patch baldness. The difference with baldness is that the edges are not as clear as in baldness, and there is often still a varying amount of unpulled hair on the bald area. Some patients can also be seen plucking their eyebrows, beard, and armpit hair. The disease is a psycho-psycho-behavioral disorder, associated with psychological factors such as stress, anxiety, depression, and habit, and the patient’s daily life is basically normal. Removing the possible psychological causes and relieving the tension can usually be self-healing, and there is no special treatment.
Hair-pulling fetish
Telogen effluvium.
Long-term habitual pulling can lead to the loss of hair in the area of greater force, mostly with the patient used curling iron too tight, hard combing hair or hairpin pulling, hard tie ponytail, coiffure, etc. caused. Hair loss is generally incomplete, mainly manifested as thinning hair. The most common areas are the front of the ear and forehead, but can also affect different areas due to different habits.
Infectious alopecia.
Various pathogens such as fungi, chickenpox, Mycobacterium leprae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and syphilis spirochetes can infect the skin tissue of the head, thus causing local or diffuse hair loss. After partial elimination of the pathogens, hair growth can gradually return to normal. Some pathogen infections produce chronic inflammation, which severely damages sebaceous glands and hair follicles and will cause permanent hair loss.
Impetigo (hair loss caused by fungus)
Medicated alopecia.
Drugs such as immunosuppressants, arsenic agents, antidepressants, and hypertensive drugs can affect the function of hair mother cells at the hair root and cause hair loss. Chemotherapy drugs used to treat tumors can kill or inhibit all rapidly dividing cells, including tumor cells, including hair mother cells in the anagen phase, so the hair loss that occurs in about 90% of patients receiving chemotherapy. Hair will gradually regrow when these drugs are discontinued.
Nutritional alopecia.
Nutritional deficiencies due to partial diet, digestive and absorption disorders, anemia, and chronic wasting diseases can inhibit the normal hair growth cycle and result in thinning, scorching, premature graying or loss of hair. Protein, iron and zinc deficiency, excess sugar, salt and selenium, as well as certain metabolic diseases such as argininosuccinic aciduria, homocystinuria, hereditary orotateuria and methionine metabolic disorders are also causes of hair loss. Hair can gradually return to normal after improving nutritional balance and metabolic disorders are corrected.
Scarring alopecia.
Deep burns, electric injuries, radioactive dermatitis, immune inflammatory diseases (such as lichen planus, discoid lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, etc. in the figure), infectious diseases, skin malignant tumors, etc. can severely damage skin tissues, resulting in the destruction of hair follicles and the formation of scarring that prevents hair follicles from regenerating, thus leading to permanent hair loss.
Lichen planus, discoid lupus erythematosus, scleroderma
In conclusion, the cause of hair loss should be identified first. Some hair loss can be recovered simply by removing the triggering factors and does not require any treatment. Most non-scarring alopecia can be completely restored to normal after treatment, but once scarring alopecia occurs, the hair often cannot be completely restored, and early diagnosis and treatment to stop further development of the condition is very important.