Home Remedies For Alopecia (Spot Baldness)

It’s amazing to observe both men and women get seriously bothered about their hair. How they spend reasonable amount of money and time thinking about the next style they would want to have on their next visit to their favorite hair salon or the latest treatments and maintenance of a beautiful and healthy condition of their hair. They engage themselves on these things to pamper themselves or to simply enjoy the sensation of feeling beautiful in the eyes of other people. Needless to say, how your hair looks is an important factor in your over-all appearance everyday. Indubitably, this is just one of the myriad of methods a man or a woman would try to take on to improve one’s self-esteem nowadays.

So how annoyed do you get when you see your pillow full of hair strands when you wake up and you have to pick them out one by one? To see your hairbrush always thick of your own hair? Hair strands cause to clog your bathroom’s water drainage because your hair just can’t cease from falling when you take your bath? To accumulate countless strands when you sweep your floor? And when you arrive at the office, the first thing your officemates notice about you is your receding hairline or the thinning of your hair. Then you start studying your hairline at the mirror and you notice the changes. It’s a disease called “alopecia” or in the layman’s term “hair loss or baldness.”

Specialists do get different reactions on alopecia. It importantly depends on how informed the patient is about the disease, its causes, possible effects of the same on persons, and the knowledge and acceptance of the probability of getting cured or not. Some experience social phobia, anxiety, and depression.

As for Maya Torres losing her hair caused by the inducement of chemotherapy medications initially added to her despondency. This 23-year-old fine lady, was just like any other typical femme sole that are quite conscious on how they would look like. Who would also likely take pleasure in pampering herself with the same method as mentioned above to boost up her self-confidence. But Maya is a young lad with colon cancer. She is fighting the battle the dreaded disease has against her for three (3) years now and still she has yet to taste victory. Maya was first diagnosed with Stage 2A colon cancer when she was a graduating college student in 2003. The malignant tumor that grown large in her ascending colon was removed through surgery on the same year. For two years after the surgery, she lived a normal life, graduated with honors, got a position as a legal secretary in a law firm and worked her way very well. One day she heard the bad news, the tumor had recurred and must be operated on immediately. Actually it was a prognosis, Maya’s oncologist explained very well right after the first surgery that she had to undergo twelve (12) chemotherapy sessions to lessen the possibility of recurrence of the tumor. But Maya, a graduating student then, opted not to undergo chemotherapy, thinking about her academics. So she underwent second surgery but this time the tumor cannot be taken out completely due to the complexity of its location that might cause internal bleeding if the doctors ensued in taking it out completely. After the second operation, she and her family decided that Maya needed to undergo and finish the required twelve (12) chemotherapy sessions. And she did finish it after nearly a year and they tasted victory that would later turn out to be ephemeral.

Maya has lost approximately eighty-five (85%) percent of her hair all over her body including her pubic hair. At first, Maya was hesitant and awkward to take a look at herself in the mirror. It was painful for her to see her head almost without hair and they continue to fall. But now, she has learned a new way of approach on her condition – acceptance, patience and unwavering faith.

With sufficient and substantial information, any patient suffering from hair loss or alopecia could cope, draw back fear, accept, and alleviate their burden, thus putting their mind at ease, and in achieving so helps boost their immune system.

Hence, we should all learn more about alopecia, its causes, its different types, effects, preventions and remedies.

CAUSES OF ALOPECIA

Causes of alopecia are often related to aging, heredity, and hormones. Maya Torres’s story is also an example, that is – medications for cancer chemotherapy. There are other several causes of alopecia, to wit:

- Don't be surprised if you noticed that you are losing a large amount of your hair about 3 or 4 months after an illness of a major surgery because this is said to be stress-related and your hair will eventually grow back.

- Hormone imbalance. E.g. Overactive or underactive thyroid gland; imbalance male hormones known as androgens or female hormones known as estrogens.

- Inducement of medicines like blood thinners (anti-coagulants); medicines used for gout, birth control pills, antidepressants, and too much Vitamin A.

- Fungal infections of the scalp; Tinea Capitis (ringworm of the scalp)

- It is important that you consult your doctor first before taking any medications relative to hair loss because such may be an underlying part of yet another disease like diabetes or lupus.

- Excessive use of shampoo, blow-drying, hot oil teatments or chemicals used in permanents which causes swelling of hair follicles that resul ts to hair loss.

- Emotional or physical stress

- Continual hair pulling or scalp rubbing which are considered as one of a person's nervous habits.

- Burns or radiation therapy

- Alopecia areata (see meaning below.)

TYPES OF ALOPECIA

In adult male humans, the most common form of alopecia is the continuous hair thinning condition called androgenic alopecia or 'male pattern baldness' while in adult female humans, the same condition is termed as alopecia androgenetica or 'female pattern baldness'.

Scientific studies also show that hair loss or baldness is a result of two factors: first, genetic background and second, large quantities of androgenic hormones which causes intense masculinizing effects throughout the body including testosterone. Therefore, when a female human specie has large quantities of such hormone, she develops virile characteristics such as baldness.

Alopecia areata is also sometimes referred to as spot baldness. It is a form of hair loss that usually starts from the scalp.

Alopecia areata is thought to be an autoimmune disease -- any disease that results from an aberrant response of the immune system -- in which the body mistakenly treats its hair follicles as foreign tissue and suppresses or stops hair growth. It is hereditary.

When the condition spread tot he entire scalp, it is called alopecia totalis.

Alopecia universalis - refers to the entire epidermis.

Alopecia areata multilocularis - refers to multiple areas of hair loss.

Alopecia areata monolocularis - a condition of baldness in only one spot. Occurs anywhere on the head.

Alopecia areata totalis - is a condition when a person loses all the hair on the scalp.

Alopecia areata universalis - refers to the condition of losing all body hair including the pubic hair.

Alopecia areata barbae - is a disease limited to the beard.

EFFECTS

Effects can be psychological (anxiety, depression, social phobia, etc.) or physical. Patients may experience asthma, allergies, atopic dermal ailments, hay fever and hypothyroidism. Excessive exposure to the sun may also cause scalp burns.

TREATMENTS

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two-combination of non-surgical treatment: (1) Finasteride is a form of antiandrogen that works as inhibitor of an enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone called type II 5-alpha reductase. It is used in may countries to treat 'male pattern baldness' or what is also termed as 'androgenetic alopecia'. Minoxidil is a medicine used to treat high blood pressure, but some patients were noted to have excessive hair growth or what is medically termed as 'hypertrichosis'.

(2) Low-level laser therapy
(3) Anti Androgen Therapy
(4) Surgery
(5) Ketoconazole
(6) Unsaturated Fatty Acids
(7) Exercise
(8) Resveratrol - a substance found naturally in red wines.

FOR MORE NATURAL WAYS OF PREVENTION/TREATMENT

"Vitamin A is an antioxidant that helps to produce healthy sebum (oil) in the scalp. Fish liver oil, milk, meat, cheese, eggs, cabbage, carrots, spinach, broccoli, apricots and peaches are rich in Vitamin A.

Vitamin C is another antioxidant that helps maintain healthy hair and skin. Citrus fruits, kiwi, pineapple, tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes and dark green vegetables are rich in Vitamin C.

Vitamin E increases scalp circulation which is vital for hair growth. You can find this type of vitamin in wheat germ oil, soybeans, raw seeds ad nuts, dried beans and leafy green vegetables.

Biotin is thought to help produce keratin, the building block of hair and nails. It is also thought that is vitamin may prevent graying (whole grains, egg yolks, liver, rice and milk).

Vitamin B6 is thought to prevent hair loss and help create melanin, the pigment which gives hair its color (liver, whole grain cereals, vegetables, organ meats and egg yolks).

Calcium is essential for healthy hair growth (dairy, fish, nuts, lentils and sesame seeds).

Copper helps prevent hair loss and defects in hair color and structure (shellfish, liver, green vegetables, eggs, chicken and beans).

Iodine helps regulate thyroid hormones. Thyroid disease is the number one cause of disease-related hair loss (fish, seaweed, kelp, iodized salt and garlic). Manganese prevents hair from growing too slowly (eggs, whole grain cereals, avocados, beans, nuts, meat and chicken).

Silica prevents hair loss by strengthening the hair (seafood, soybeans, rice and green vegetables)."

An informed patient and his attitude towards his illness are vital factors in winning the battle.

familydoctor.org, American Academy of Family Physicians
http://en.wikipedia.org
page 893, Textbook of Medical Physiology, Eight Edition, Arthur C. Guyton, M.D., 1991 W.B. Saunders Company, Harcourt Brace Jonanovich, Inc.