How to manage hair loss
Hair loss might be due to decrease in growth of hair, increase in shedding of hair, breakage of hair or conversion of thick terminal hairs to thin hairs.
The hair cycle itself can interrupted because of genetic factors that interfere with testosterone cycle or due to sebaceous glands problems.
Furthermore other endocrine conditions like uncontrolled diabetes, thyroid disease or polycystic ovary syndrome might lead to hair loss.
Bad blood circulation can also cause it since in case micro-circulation at the capillary level or nutrients intake decreases hair regrowth is also affected.
Chemicals and other external factors like childbirth, high fever, sudden weight loss and surgery might also produce a "shock to the system" that provokes hair loss or changes hair growth rhythm. If the latest happen 30 to 40% of hairs can go into telogen phase and 3 months later hairs will come out in a massive shedding.
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Types of Alopecia - Treatment
· Trichotillomania is hair loss from repeated urges to pull or twist the hair until it breaks off. Patients are unable to stop this behavior and may also start to pluck other hairy areas, such as eyebrows, eyelashes, or body hair. Treatment should focus on problems underneath this mania like anxiety and depression.
· Infectious Alopecia is due to agents like ringworms. Usually it can be seen in children who were in contact with animals infected by fungus like Tinea capitis. Antifungal shampoos containing ketoconazole are used as treatment.
· Androgenetic Alopecia is responsible for 90% of hair loss cases. Treatment includes: 1. Minoxidil 2% or 5% solution. 1ml should be applied twice daily on affected area of scalp. This substance increases blood influx to the hair and results can be seen after 2 months. Treatment is suitable for both men and women. Caution: possibility of contact dermatitis! 2. Finasteride tablets 1mg. 1 tablet should be taken daily for 1 year. This treatment is suitable for males between 18 and 40 years old. Re-growth is expected to be more pronounced at the vertex than frontal area.
· Seborrheic Alopecia is a genetics related problem. In order to balance oil overproduction is very important to alternate a neutral shampoo that cleanses the scalp but does not interfere with keratin with a medicinal shampoo able to control oil production, fungal and bacterial growth, flaking and/or itchiness.
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Hair Infections
Tinea Capitis: Oral antibiotics
Dandruff: Anti-dandruff shampoos
Seborrheic dermatitis: Topical steroid application and anti-dandruff shampoos can decrease the buildup of dead skin cells, remove flakes, relieves itchiness and inflammation.
For Dandruff and Seborrheic dermatitis
There are neutral and medicinal shampoos meant to be used alternately.
The neutral shampoo must be able to clean the scalp and preserve keratin at the same time.
The medicinal shampoo is not meant to be used more than three times a week otherwise natural oil of the scalp can be lost followed by hair loss. It can contain zinc, selenium, ketoconazole, salicylic acid, tar or disinfectants.
Neutral Shampoo:
Pick a neutral shampoo containing oats or panthenol;
Medicinal Shampoo:
1. Try a plant based shampoo for dandruff containing peony;
2. Go for a shampoo containing 1-2% of zinc or 1-2.5% of selenium;
3. If it doesn’t work a 2% ketoconazole shampoo is worth to try since Pityrosporum ovale proliferation can be responsible for the dandruff problem.
4. Salicylic acid 2 to 3% and sulfur 3 to 5% are worth to try because of keratolytic effect in case ketoconazole shampoo fail to solve the scales problem.
5. 0,5% to 10% of tar and antiseptics like cetrimide, iodopovidone and benzalkonium chloride are another option if none of the other options did work.
Children Cradle Cap: Usually this condition resolves by itself but almond/coconut oil applied on the scalp before bath followed by scales removal will solve the problem faster. If it doesn’t work liquid nystatin or hydrocortisone cream 1% can be used for a couple of days.
Supplements for Hair
There are different kinds of supplements that might be helpful for some types of hair loss:
· Sulfur containing amino acids like methionine, cysteine or other sources of sulfur like methyl-sulfonyl-methane (MSM) are important since hair protein build up requires sulfur bonds.
· Zinc: 10 mg daily because unbalance of zinc/copper ratio can lead to hair loss.
· Vitamin B7 also known as biotin, vitamin H and coenzyme R: 3 mg daily.
· Saw palmetto can be used for men hair loss caused by androgens imbalance.
Lotus Pharmacy Educational System
March 2019
Sara Silva
- Course creator: Lurdes Pastor
- Course creator: Eliana Sequeira
- Course creator: Molly WONG