Common causes of Hair Loss

Hair loss is often distressing and can have a significant effect on the patient’s quality of life. Proper diagnosis of the cause is very important as some conditions require early treatment to prevent further hair loss.

Causes of Hair Loss

Hereditary hair loss
Both men and women develop this type of hair loss, which is the most common cause of hair loss worldwide. Inherited genes cause hair follicles to shrink and stop growing.

In women, it is usually presented with overall hair thinning, While in men a receding hairline or bald area at the top of head.

Age
With age, most people notice some hair loss because hair growth slows down which causes the hair on our scalp to thin and hairline naturally starts to recede.

Too little Biotin, Iron, Protein or Zinc
If you’re not getting enough of one or more of these, you can have noticeable hair loss.

Childbirth or Illness
A few months after giving birth, recovering from an illness or having an operation, you may experience excess hair loss.

Alopecia areata
Alopecia areata is a condition where the body’s immune system attack the hair follicles. Hair loss include patches of the scalp and in cases, lose of eyelashes or eyebrows as well.

Hair Products
If you color, perm or relax your hair, this could be damaging to your hair. Over time, this damage can lead to hair loss.

Scaly Scalp

Whether you have severe dandruff or scalp infection, the scales and inflamed areas on your scalp may lead to hair loss. Also, Psoriasis when comes on the scalp can lead to hair loss.

Hormonal imbalance
A common cause of this imbalance is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in females which leads to many symptoms and include hair loss.

Medications
A possible side effect of some medications is hair loss.

Cancer treatment
Most of scalp hair may be lost within few weeks of starting Chemotherapy treatment.

Scarring alopecia
Localised inflammation of the scalp which destroys hair follicles. Once destroyed, a hair follicle cannot grow hair.