Many people face hair problems at some point in their lives, and hair thinning is one. This hair problem is often the first symptom of various types of alopecia. Hair is a significant part of our identity and look. This problem is often hard to live for the patient and frequently lowers his self-esteem.
What is this hair problem? What is the cause? Is there any efficient way to cure it?
Here is everything you need to know!
What is hair thinning?
Hair thinning is when the hair gets thinner. It can be a loss of hair volume or a thinning of the hair strand itself, depending on the condition causing hair thinning. In some cases, the hair thins until barely visible or does not grow back anymore. Hair thinning is often the first symptom of alopecia.
What causes hair thinning?
Various conditions cause hair thinning.
The most common hair thinning cause in men is androgenic alopecia. This condition is due to androgen, a male hormone group, which testosterone and DHT belong. Androgen is helpful for men’s health and sexual health, but its action also weakens hair follicles, leading to hair thinning and hair loss. 70% of men face androgenic alopecia sooner or later in their lifetime.
However, androgenic alopecia is not the only condition causing hair thinning and loss. Nutrient deficiencies also cause hair thinning, as the follicles do not have enough nutrients to grow healthy hair.
The first symptom of some autoimmune diseases, such as alopecia areata, is hair thinning. In this case, the hair is thinning, but they fall, forming bald patches of various sizes in diverse areas. In extreme cases, such as alopecia Universalis, autoimmune hair loss may affect the whole hair, facial, and body hair.
How to cure it?
The cure depends on the condition.
Curing autoimmune-related hair loss is problematic, as the cause is often unknown. Some medicine weakens the immune system to prevent the immunity system from attacking hair follicles. However, those medicines have severe adverse effects: with a weak immune system, the patient can catch any disease, including lethal ones. Those medicines have to be used with caution and only under medical supervision.
Nutrient-deficiency-related hair thinning is much easier to cure. Having a healthy diet and taking some supplements of the B-vitamin group is often enough to grow the hair back.
Some medicine can block androgen production to cure androgenic alopecia-induced hair thinning. However, those treatments come with many severe side effects. As mentioned before, androgen hormones are helpful for men’s health and sexual health, so blocking their production causes adverse effects, such as sexual dysfunction and depression.
Patients suffering from androgenic alopecia who are not willing to take androgen blockers can undergo a hair transplant to restore their hair. Hair transplant is a surgical procedure aiming to harvest androgen-resistant hair in the back of the head to graft them on the bald or low-density areas. This technique offers excellent results as the results are natural-looking and long-lasting. Several hair transplant methods exist, and the results depend on the used technique. The best hair transplant technique for an excellent volume and a natural-looking result is DHI.
However, all patients suffering from androgenic alopecia-related hair thinning and hair loss are not suitable for a hair transplant. They must have a rich enough donor area at the back of the head to provide enough grafts to cover the low-density or bald spots.
The best way for a patient to know if he is suitable for a hair transplant is to contact a reputable hair transplant clinic, such as Hair Turkey, to do a hair checkup.
