Education On Hair Loss

Male Pattern Baldness:

Male pattern baldness effects more than 75% of the male population. It is most often the result of heredity. In men with a genetic tendency to go bald, their hairline will continue to recede to the beginning of their donor area. Severe illness, vitamin deficiency or malnutrition can speed or exacerbate the natural hair loss process, but many healthy men lose more hair than others do. This natural process is androgenetic alopecia or “male pattern baldness.” Androgenetic alopecia or male pattern baldness is a process that changes the hair follicle. The follicle will produce thinner, shorter hairs with a weaker shaft, and eventually these follicles produce very fine vellus hair, that may die altogether. With patients suffering from this condition Medical Hair Loss Clinics recommends an evaluation by one of our consultants.

Female Pattern Baldness:

Women represent 40% of the U.S. balding or thinning population. Unlike men, female pattern balding occurs throughout the entire scalp including thinning of the donor area.

Successful female hair transplant candidates must be healthy, have no evidence of thyroid disease and their hormonal levels must be taken prior to hair transplantation surgery to determine whether hair transplantation will work. This can be accomplished either through your primary care physician or thorough Arizona Dermatology.

The other factors that contribute to hair loss in women:

• thyroid disease
• severe emotional stress
• anemia
• surgical procedures and general anesthesia
• gynecological problems
• rapid weight loss
• prescriptions (please ask your prescribing physician about side effects)

Some commonly ordered tests for female hair loss may be:

• CBC (complete blood count) for Anemia
• T3, T4, TSH for Thyroid Disease
• ANA for Lupus

Structure and Physiology of Hair

The growing phase: at full maturity, the human scalp maintains 100,000 hair follicles. At any given moment about 90% of these follicles are in the growing phase (anagen)
The transition phase: as the end of the growing phase approaches, the hair follicle begins to shrink and become dormant. This phase is called catagen and lasts a few weeks.
The resting phase: when hair growth stops the follicle enters the resting stage (telogen) which lasts about 3 months. The hair usually falls out during brushing or shampooing. These are the hairs you often find in your drain of your tub or sink. After 3 months the hair usually enters the growing phase and the cycle begins again.

At any given time roughly 90% of human hair is in the growing phase and the other 10% is in the resting phase. The growing phase of the human scalp is roughly 1000 days. Catagen probably lasts 2 to 3 weeks and telogen a few months. Most hair shedding is due to the hair cycle. It is normal to lose 50 to 100 hairs per day. However, if you are concerned about excessive hair loss or dramatic thinning please contact Medical Hair Loss Clinics at 1-800-GET-HAIR.