Welcome To Our Website
Here you'll learn about the causes of hair loss, the many
hair loss treatments currently available, and preventative measures you
can take against hair loss.
Hair loss treatments
have existed for at least 5000 years. We know ancient Egyptian healers
treated hair loss because a medical text dating back to 1553BC describes
a hair loss treatment involving a mixture of iron, red lead, onions, alabaster,
and honey which was to be swallowed after first reciting a magical invocation
to the sun god!
Hair loss treatments were researched by the Greeks however the most effective method they came up with was preventative - they noticed that castration prevents baldness!
However it wasn't until 1978, when the results of minoxidil having the "side effect" of growing hair were published, that the way was paved for credible hair loss treatments. Minoxidil was finally approved as a lotion and marketed as Rogaine in 1988. It was the first ever hair loss treatment scientifically proven to work.
Since then much research and vast funds have been poured into the field of hair loss treatments, resulting in further treatments and exciting prospects for future treatments.
Alopecia or hair loss is the medical description of the loss of hair from the head or body, sometimes to the extent of baldness. Alopecia tends to be involuntary and unwelcome. The amount and patterns of hair loss can vary greatly; it ranges from the progressive androgenetic alopecia, which is the most common form of hair loss in both men and women, alopecia areata, which involves the loss of some of the hair from the head, and alopecia totalis, which involves the loss of all head hair, to the most extreme form, alopecia universalis, which involves the loss of all hair from the head and the body.
Hair loss treatments
have existed for at least 5000 years. We know ancient Egyptian healers
treated hair loss because a medical text dating back to 1553BC describes
a hair loss treatment involving a mixture of iron, red lead, onions, alabaster,
and honey which was to be swallowed after first reciting a magical invocation
to the sun god!Hair loss treatments were researched by the Greeks however the most effective method they came up with was preventative - they noticed that castration prevents baldness!
However it wasn't until 1978, when the results of minoxidil having the "side effect" of growing hair were published, that the way was paved for credible hair loss treatments. Minoxidil was finally approved as a lotion and marketed as Rogaine in 1988. It was the first ever hair loss treatment scientifically proven to work.
Since then much research and vast funds have been poured into the field of hair loss treatments, resulting in further treatments and exciting prospects for future treatments.
Alopecia or hair loss is the medical description of the loss of hair from the head or body, sometimes to the extent of baldness. Alopecia tends to be involuntary and unwelcome. The amount and patterns of hair loss can vary greatly; it ranges from the progressive androgenetic alopecia, which is the most common form of hair loss in both men and women, alopecia areata, which involves the loss of some of the hair from the head, and alopecia totalis, which involves the loss of all head hair, to the most extreme form, alopecia universalis, which involves the loss of all hair from the head and the body.
Causes of Hair Loss
The following is a list of some of the causes of hair loss with brief explanations. Although there are many causes of hair loss, by far the most common form of hair loss is the progressive hair thinning condition called androgenetic alopecia or "male pattern baldness" (which also affects women). Please see the separate page for further information about androgenetic alopecia.- Androgenetic Alopecia - male pattern baldness, results in progressive baldness in men and progressive thinning in women
- Fungal infection such as "black dot" tinea or tinea capitis
- Chemical breakage such as over processing, or frequent use of chemical hair relaxer
- Heat damage from repeated hot hair iron use
- Traction alopecia - the chronic exposure to traction on hair shafts for example from excessively tight ponytails or braids
- Trichotillomania - compulsive hair pulling and bending. It tends to occur more in children than in adults. In this condition the hairs are not absent from the scalp but are broken.
- Hypothyroidism - typically causes frontal hair loss, and is particularly associated with thinning of the outer third of the eyebrows.
- Iron deficiency - usually causes thinning, not baldness
- Alopecia areata - an autoimmune disorder also known as "spot baldness"
- Telogen effluvium resulting from physical or psychological stress such as childbirth, major surgery, poisoning.
- Hereditary disorder of the hair shaft or genodermatoses
- Secondary syphillis can cause "moth eaten hairloss"
- Discoid lupus erythematosus or chronic cutanous lupus erythematosus
- Lichenplanopilaris
- Pseudopelade of Brocq
- Tufted folliculitis
- Dissecting cellulitis
- Alopecia mucinosa
- Keratosis follicularis spinulosa decalvans
- Adverse effect to certain drugs such as cancer chemotherapy, the fertility-stimulating drug chlomiphene, testosterone booster tablets
- Sebaceous cysts - can cause temporary loss of hair