Alopecia- Symptoms, Causes And Treatment

AlopeciaOverview

If you feel sad about losing hair don’t be disheartened. There are millions of us suffering from this same problem, trying every small and big treatment that comes our way. We try everything but fail to get the right effects and keep on changing our medicine. No product can help us a 100 % guarantee that we won’t face hair lose problems as no product is perfect and there may be varying reasons for our hair loss problems.

Types

Some types of alopecia that one suffers from are noted down below:

1.  Alopecia Areata

This is the primary stage of Alopecia that one faces. It is a very common autoimmune disease that results in the loss of hair on your scalp and everywhere.

2.  Mild Transient Alopecia Areata

This patient is one of those who undergoes repeated transient alopecia areata but is never able to converts his mild transien into alopecia totalis or even into universalis.

3.  Transient Alopecia Areata

In this type of Alopecia, the patient is in the progressive phase and some of it to convert into Alopecia totalis or even Alopecia universalis.

4.  Alopecia Totalis

In this case the patient suffers loss of hair from the entire scalp.

5.  Alopecia Universalis

This case is loss of hair from your complete body not to leave your eyebrow eyelashes too.

Symptoms

Patchy hair loss: This problem frequently begins with one or more smooth, bare patches where you had the hair once. You might first notice the problem when you see bunches of hair on your pillow or probably when you go for in the shower.

Hair loss occurs in most of the cases on the scalp. But it can also involve eyebrows, beards eyelashes. Patches vary in size.

Causes

No particular reason is known as to what triggers loss of hair but researchers are trying to find out what is the exact reason, whether it is due to the intrinsic of extrinsic factors.

There are no particular symptoms as such other than bald patches which start appearing slowly and gradually. Many individuals get this problem of alopecia in their family and are affected from it.

Causes:

  • Genetic tendencies
  • Nutritional deficiency
  • Environmental factors
  • Pregnancy
  • Hereditary
  • Exposure to too much of chemicals

Diagnosis / Tests

There are times when a doctor can diagnose this hair loss disease by looking at your problem. If your hair loss disease is expanding the doc may pull off some hair and take a look at them under a microscope.

The dermatologist will also carry out a skin biopsy to confirm if it’s the disease it alopecia or not. He may also carry out blood tests to confirm whether it is alopecia or if it is some antoimmune disease.

Treatments

The dermatologist may try to re grow your hair by carrying out the following treatments.

  • Corticosteroids:  this is a kind of medicine that suppresses your immune system.  The doctor can give this medicine as shots. He injects his medicine into places where you have a hair loss. For adults shots are given for three to six weeks. Hair loss may probably begin four weeks after the loss shot. Sometimes it might even take longer.
  • Minoxidil:  even this is a hair re growth medicines;minoxidil may help patients re grow their hair. It can be used by both adults and children and can be twice on your scalp.
  • Anthralin: this medicine generally alters the skin’s immunity system. Here the dermatologist apllies the medicine on your scalp and leaves it for 20 minutes to sixty minutes. After the stipulated time it is washed off that the patient does not get irritated.
  • Other treatments: a patient can undergo more than one treatment at a time as a mix of two medicines can bring in more success.

Prevention

There are no specific prevention measures that one can take in the case of hair loss or baldness.  But there are some prevention tips that you can follow:

  • Do not pull your hair from your scalp.
  • Eat well balanced meals that gives you a lot of nutrition’s
  • Do not take too much of stress as it is one of the main reasons for hair loss.
  • In case of acute illness, take some medical treatment before it takes severe turn

Home Remedies

Some of the home remedies one can try are:

  • Soak some fenugreek seeds throughout the night. Apply the liquid on your scalp in the morning and wrap your head with a cloth for approximately for three hours. You can repeat It for one month.
  • Blanch fragranced geranium leaves in mild boiling water, strain it, cool it and use to wash the hair.
  • One can apply olive oil on the scalp to reduce hair loss
  • Mix two tablespoons of olive oil, one lemon juice, one egg yolk, and rosemary. Apply it on the hair roots of your hair and reduce hair loss.

Warnings / Precautions

One has to have a healthy and nutritious diet so that nutrition intake is more as it prevents hair loss. These are the precautions that one can take to prevent hair loss:

Vitamin A:

Liver, eggs, fish oil are filled with vitamin A and therefore should be consumed as vitamin A is the main key for developing and strengthening cells of your body. It leads to thickening of the roots of your hair. Green leafy vegetables and red yellow vegetables are good for your hair.

Vitamin B:

One has to have nutritious food that consists of vitamin B. sources  of vitamin B are egg, liver, mushrooms, pasta, nuts, and etc.

Questions to Ask your Doctor

  • What are the symptoms of hair loss?
  • How can I know that Alopecia is the main disease and it is not any other disease?
  • Can precautions be taken in the first stages that it can be controlled?

Do you think home remedies can work better than proper medication?