Hair Loss: Common Causes and Treatment
First of all, the type and severity of hair loss are determined, and if necessary, the underlying causes are investigated. After that, a personalized treatment protocol is created.
Hair and feathers consist of a protein called keratin and is produced in hair follicles located in the outer layer of the skin. Hair grows about 15 cm each year. This happens when old hair cells are pushed out of the skin’s surface by new hair cells produced by the follicles.
Hair and feathers normally grow almost everywhere on the human body except the palms, soles, and eyelids. Many hair types found on the human body are too small to be seen with the naked eye. A person’s head is where the most hair and fluff appear.
An adult human has an average of 100,000 to 150,000 hairs on its head. It is normal to lose up to 100 of these hairs a day. At any given moment in life, about 90% of the hair follicles on a person’s head continue to grow.
Each follicle has its own life cycle, which is divided into three phases. In the first anagen phase, hair grows actively. This stage lasts from two to eight years. The ensuing second catagen phase is a transitional phase at the end of the anagen phase where the hair is transformed and lasts for two to three weeks.
The final telogen phase is a resting phase that lasts about two to three months. At the end of this resting phase, the hair naturally sheds and a new hair takes its place to start the cycle again. This life cycle can be affected and shortened by age, disease, and various other factors.
What is the Goal of Hair Loss Treatment?
With PRP applied to the hair, it is aimed to repair the hair, skin and hair follicles by using the materials in the blood of the person. The aim is to stop hair loss with rich material, to restore a healthy hair cycle and to strengthen the hair strands.
In hair mesotherapy, hair follicles are activated to produce healthier and longer hair strands. 3 sessions are applied with 3 weeks intervals.
It is the regional use of hair mesotherapy in other classical doses. It has no side effects. In hair mesotherapy, drug mixtures selected in accordance with the purpose are injected into the skin with special needles in small doses locally.
PRP method and hair mesotherapy are applied to people who complain about hair loss.
In hair mesotherapy, vitamins, minerals, special building block proteins, antioxidants and drugs that increase regional blood circulation are injected directly into the hair follicles.
What Causes Hair Loss?
Hair loss is called alopecia. Hair loss can have many different causes and there are also several different types depending on the causes. Nutritional factors, genetic predisposition, hormonal factors, exposure to chemical substances, immune system diseases, hair growth disorders, drug use, psychological anxiety disorders, stress and skin diseases in the scalp areas can cause temporary or permanent hair loss.
Androgenic alopecia, also called baldness, is a genetic condition that can affect anyone. This condition is called male pattern baldness for men. For men, this type of hair loss may first begin during puberty or in their early 20s. It usually begins as a receding hairline and the gradual loss of hair from the crown and anterior scalp.
For women, this condition is called female pattern baldness. In women, no significant thinning is observed until middle age. This situation manifests itself as a general thinning on the entire head in women and focuses on the crown area.
Involutional alopecia, on the other hand, is a natural condition in which the hair gradually becomes thinner with increasing age. The number of hair follicles entering the resting phase increases. The remaining hairs become shorter and grow less and less.
Hair loss can also happen among children, teenagers, and young adults. This condition, called alopecia areata, can start suddenly and cause uneven hair loss. It can result in complete baldness, but in most cases, the hair returns within a few years.
All body hair and hair, including eyebrows, eyelashes and pubic hair, can fall out due to alopecia universalis.
Various inflammatory skin diseases and skin disorders can cause scars that destroy the hair’s ability to regenerate. In addition, scars due to trauma can cause permanent hair loss. Pulling hair, that is, eyebrows, usually with tweezers, can also cause permanent hair loss in the eyebrows and weaken one of the natural defenses of the eye.
Radiation therapy applied to the head area may cause hair loss, and then the hair may not regrow in the same volume as it was originally.
While the exact reason why some hair follicles have a longer growth period and others a shorter hair cycle is unknown, several factors are known that can affect hair loss rates.
The most important of these factors is genetics. A person’s genetic characteristics from either parent or both may affect their susceptibility to male or female pattern baldness.
It is known that stress and traumas such as birth, thyroid disease, lupus, diabetes, iron deficiency anemia, eating disorders and autoimmune disorders such as anemia, fungal infections, ringworm, burns or injuries cause temporary hair loss.
As long as there is no scar tissue left from trauma or diseases such as lupus, the hair lost due to these reasons will grow back. Various medications such as beta-adrenergic blockers used to control blood pressure, birth control pills, blood thinners or chemotherapy drugs for cancer treatment can also cause temporary hair loss. In addition, untreated or advanced and uncontrolled diabetes can cause hair loss.
Some cosmetic behaviors, such as bleaching hair, using shampoo too often, tight braiding, perming, and coloring, can contribute to overall hair thinning by making hair weak and brittle. These procedures usually do not cause baldness.
Unless severe damage is done to the scalp, hair grows normally if the source of the problem is addressed and necessary steps are taken to eliminate it. Some types of diets with low protein or very low calorie intakes can also cause temporary hair loss.
How to Prevent Hair Loss
Natural hair loss cannot be reversed under normal conditions, but it is possible to protect hair from damage caused by other sources that can cause thinning. Hair dryers, hot curlers, hair dyes, perms, tight braids, hair straightening products and chemical-laden cosmetics can cause dry, brittle and thinning hair.
In order to prevent hair loss, it is an effective method to make the hair natural and leave it in its natural color and form as much as possible. It’s also a good option to give hair time to heal in between using any chemicals, such as hair coloring.
Using a shampoo designed for individuals’ hair type makes significant contributions to hair health. Using a moderately hard, natural bristle brush and brushing gently and properly are effective ways to avoid split ends or split ends. Not brushing the hair when the hair is wet also helps.
Other Treatments
Throughout history, many different treatment methods have been presented to prevent hair loss. Unfortunately, there is little to reverse the process of thinning hair naturally. For this reason, many people use wigs, hair prostheses and hairpieces for cosmetic purposes. In other cases, there are those who use tattoos to simulate missing eyebrows and eyelashes.
Although there are some drugs that can slow down hair loss and increase the health of the remaining hair, there is no drug that can completely stop hair loss. The various side effects of drugs that can slow hair loss can also cause a number of medical problems, as many of these drugs need to be used continuously to continue to be effective.
Hair transplantation is currently and for the foreseeable future the most effective way to naturally regrow hair. Corticosteroids can help with hair loss due to an autoimmune disorder. However, corticosteroids can cause pain and have been observed to cause thinning of the skin in the treatment area.
Hair transplantation involves the relocation of patches, groups of follicles (FUT) or individual hair follicles (FUE) of the scalp to active hair follicles, usually naves, bald or thinning areas.
FUT and FUE techniques provide a more natural appearance as hair follicles can be stitched to allow them to grow in a more natural-looking direction. Hair transplantation can be done not only on the head area, but also on the eyebrows, mustache and beard areas.
A few hundred to several thousand follicles usually need to be transplanted during hair transplantation, which sometimes requires more than one session depending on the numbers. The transplanted hair falls out within a few weeks, but as the follicles remain embedded, they start to grow naturally within a few months.
Except for the transplanted hair, if the hair in that area continues to fall out, it may be necessary to repeat the hair transplant.