Friday, June 10 2005 20:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hair loss is a problem for most of the people today. People lose hair due to various reasons. Like skin, our hair is also sensitive and it needs a lot of care. With the hectic urban life, this problem is becoming more intense, though it is a hereditary in most of the cases.

There is a normal cycle of hair growth and fall in human life. At any one point, about 10 per cent of the hair on your scalp is in a resting phase. After two to three months, the resting hair fall out and new hair starts to grow in its place. This growing phase lasts for two to six months. Each hair grows approximately one centimeter per month during this phase. About 90 per cent of the hair on the scalp is growing at any one time.

The mechanism of hair fall

If you enter in a departmental store or just switch on your television, beauty experts would guide you to various reasons of hair fall. There are some common causes behind the unnatural fall of hair. Like for example, the hormonal problems, If a person's thyroid gland is overactive or under active, he or she may suffer from loss of hair. Thyroid treatment could be helpful to stop this pattern of hair fall.

There are also other hormonal problems, which can lead to fall of scalp hair. If male or female hormones, androgens and estrogens, losses their balance, hair fall might be faced by the particular individual.

For many women, hair fall is a post pregnancy phenomenon. During pregnancy, high level of certain hormones causes the body to keep hair that would normally fall out. When the hormones return to pre-pregnancy levels, that hair fall out and normal cycle of growth and loss starts again.

Illness or major surgery could also cause the loss of scalp hair, For example, usually after an illness or a major surgery, especially after Typhoid or Pneumonia, one may suddenly lose hair. This may be due to the stress of the illness.

Sometimes individuals lose hair, as part of an underlying disease, such as lupus or diabetes. Since hair fall may be an early sign of a disease, it is important to find the cause so that it can be treated.

Added to this, some medicines can also cause the untimely fall of hair. Medicines that can cause loss of hair include blood thinners (also called anticoagulants), the medicines used for gout, those used in chemotherapy to treat cancer, vitamin A (if taken in excess amount) birth control pills and antidepressants.

A person may also lose hair due to certain infections. Children sometimes lose hair by fungal infections on the scalp. Antifungal medicines are usually recommended to check the fungal infections.

Part II - Treatments for hair loss in men and Women