Seasonal and Thyroid Related Hair Loss in Women

Hair loss is something that men accept as a part of growing up, in fact, it is almost expected that men will lose hair as they age.

However, hair loss in women is not so common, and thus difficult to accept. Many women will go to great lengths to prevent, disguise, and treat hair loss.

Understanding the major causes of hair loss in women can be helpful in tackling the problem. In women, hair loss can be seasonal or due to a thyroid condition. These are two of the most common causes of hair loss in women.

Hypothyroidism and Medication

One of the major contributing factors to hair loss is hormonal imbalance, which is often attributed to hypothyroidism. The increased production of androgenic hormones, which is one side effect of hypothyroidism, can often lead to baldness in women. Androgens, which consist of the two related hormones testosterone and DHT, cause hair follicles to die and fall out.

Medicine used to treat hypothyroidism can also cause hair loss. The main intention of thyroid medicine is to correct a hormonal imbalance. And as it is yet another factor that alters the hormone levels,it can lead to hair loss.

Seasonal Hair Loss

Believe it or not, one of the most common causes of hair loss in women is the change of seasons. Though this might seem like too simple of a reason, the changing of seasons has been known to cause hair loss in women. During times of increased temperature, women with thick hair frequently shed some of their locks. It’s similar to when your pet sheds their fur. You have nothing to worry about this kind of hair loss as it is temporary.

Ruling Out The Worst

Despite thyroid and seasonal hair loss being most common in women, it is important to rule out other, more serious medical conditions that could also be the cause of hair loss. Your doctor can help you to determine whether thyroid and seasonal hair loss is, in fact, your problem or if the cause could be something more serious.

There are several serious medical conditions that have hair loss as one of the side effects. The conditions could have tragic results if they are not recognized and treated as soon as possible, which is why you should consult your doctor if you experience hair loss.

Some of the more serious medical conditions that could lead to hair loss in women include: anemia, ovarian tumors, Lupus, and anorexia. Experiencing hair loss could be a sign of one of these conditions, so make sure to consult your doctor.

No Concerns About These Causes

As far as hair loss goes, thyroid and seasonal hair loss are really nothing to be worried about. While seasonal hair loss must be waited out, thyroid disorders can be treated with medication. Thyroid or seasonal hair loss is easy enough to address.

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Causes of Folliculitis

Folliculitis is the inflammation of one or more hair follicles. The condition may occur anywhere on the skin with the exception of the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.

Folliculitis results from the infection of the hair follicles. Along with the inflammation the infectious pustules also result in hair loss. Bacteria, fungi, virus and parasites are folliculitis causes which are responsible for infection to the follicles from where it may spread to the other parts of the body.

A follicle refers to a crust or cavity from which the hair emerges on the surface of the skin. The term folliculitis is used to describe the inflamed condition of the hair. Depending upon the causal organism, folliculitis causes can be characterized as follows:

Bacterial Folliculitis
Fungal Folliculitis
Viral Folliculitis
Parasitic Folliculitis

Bacterial folliculitis:
Bacterial folliculitis develops when bacteria enters the body through a cut, scrape, surgical incision, or multiplies in the skin near a hair follicle. The bacteria can get trapped and then the infection may spread from the hair follicles to the other parts of the body.

Bacterial folliculitis may be superficial or deep. Superficial folliculitis, also called impetigo, consists of pustules which are small-circumscribed elevations of the skin containing pus. The pustules are often surrounded by a ring of redness. Deep folliculitis results when the infection goes deeper and involves more follicles to produce furuncles and carbuncles. These are more serious than folliculitis and can cause permanent damage and scarring to the skin.
Bacterial folliculitis usually occurs in children and adults. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common of bacterial folliculitis causes. It also causes sycosis, a deep chronic infection that involves the entire hair follicle.

Besides the species of streptococcus, pseudomonas, proteus and coliform bacteria have also been indicated as bacterial folliculitis causes. “Hot Tub” Folliculitis is a condition caused by the pathogen pseudomonas aeruginosa. This disease is often caused due to unsanitary conditions at a spa. The pathogens identified in Gram-negative folliculitis include Klebsiella, Enterobacter, and Proteus species. This type of folliculitis sometimes develops in people receiving long-term antibiotic treatment for acne.

Some superficial follicle infections spontaneously resolve themselves. However, bacterial infections like impetigo, furuncles, carbuncles and “hot tub” folliculitis may not resolve spontaneously and generally require prescription therapy. All these infections are typically diagnosed by clinical presentation, after which predisposing factors are identified and eliminated.

Fungal folliculitis:
As the name suggests fungal folliculitis is caused due to fungal infections. Superficial fungal infections are found in the top layers of the skin, while deep fungal infections invade deeper layers of the skin. The infection from hair follicles can also spread to blood or internal organs.

The dermatophytic fungus, pityrosporum fungus and the yeast candida folliculitis are the prominent among the fungal folliculitis causes.

Dermatophytic folliculitis is caused most often by a zoophilic species, i.e. fungal species that show attraction to or affinity for animals. The condition presents as follicular pustules around a hardened erythematous (reddened) plaque. A deep fungal penetration causes a high degree of inflammation and determines the extent of hair shaft loss that occurs due to the infection.

Tinea capitis or ringworm of the head is the most important form of pediatric dermatophytic folliculitis. The clinical features of tinea capitis vary considerably depending on the species responsible for the infection. Typically, there is partial alopecia with a varying amount of inflammation.

In the non-inflammatory variants, asymmetrical lesions with short broken hair, 1 to 3 mm in length, are observed. Slight inflammation with scaling may be observed on careful inspection.

The most severe inflammatory reactions are called kerion and produce painful boggy masses studded with pustules. These lesions can result in severe hair loss and significant scarring when the disease is in advanced stages. The diagnosis of tinea capitis is established by identifying the organism in infected hairs under the microscope. A diagnosis is often confirmed by cultures.

Tinea barbae is a superficial dermatophytic infection that is limited to the bearded areas of the face and neck and occurs almost exclusively in older adolescent and adult males. The clinical presentation of tinea barbae includes deep folliculitis, red inflammatory papules and pustules with exudation, crusting and associated hair shaft loss. The two main species causing the infection are T. mentagrophytes and T. verrucosum.

Pityrosporum folliculitis is caused by pityrosporum yeasts resulting in an itchy eruption. The lesions are reddish follicular papules and pustules located mainly on the upper back, shoulders and chest.
Candida folliculitis is caused by the Candida species, ubiquitous fungi that most commonly affects humans.

Viral folliculitis:
Viral folliculitis involves a variety of viral infections of the hair follicle. Infection by the herpes simple virus (HSV) often progress to form pustular or ulcerated lesions, and eventually a crust. Infection caused by molluscum contagiosum indicates an immuneosuppressed state which manifests as multiple whitish, itchy papules over the beard area. There are also some reports of folliculitis caused by herpes zoster infection.

Parasitic folliculitis:
Parasites causing folliculitis are usually small pathogens that burrow into the hair follicle to live there or lay their eggs. Mites such as demodex folliculorum and demodex brevis are natural hosts of the human pilo-sebaceous follicle.

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Best Hair Loss Product Options

When it comes to a review of hair loss products that work, the best option is to focus on products that prevent your healthy hair from falling out rather than trying to re-growing dormant hair follicles.
When it comes to preventing hair loss the following are a few options that can be helpful

Home Remedies

When it comes to preventing hair loss the most common option is the home remedy. While some of these remedies don’t really work, others are an excellent option for treating hair loss. So, it is important to have a review of hair loss products that are listed as home remedies. Some of the most promising home remedies for hair loss are the following:

Use a sage tea and apple cider vinegar solution to rinse your hair.
When using almond oil, castor oil, olive oil, jojoba oil and alma oil as a warm massage for your scalp there are benefits.
Massaging coconut milk and aloe vera gel into the scalp will have an effect on your hair loss.
Applying a masque of honey and egg yolk to your hair and scalp will reduce hair loss.

Herbal Remedies

The next option to prevent hair loss are herbal remedies. There are several lotions and nutritional supplements that claim to be formulated to help with hair loss. If you don’t want to use chemically based treatments then the herbal option might be the right alternative for you. It is best to visit an herbalist to get the best remedy for your hair loss.

The best herbal remedies that have been suggested for hair loss include ginko biloba, green tea, polygonum multiforum, pygeum, aloe vera, saw plametto, stinging nettle and resveratrol.
While you can take some of these in tablet form, others have to be made into preparations that you massage into your scalp. You should use all of these with care since some can cause allergic reactions.

The Medicinal Option

The last resort is to use the medicinal option to treat hair loss. There are many medications that focus on treating hair loss. Many rely on Minoxidil in the form of Rogain, but you need to use this continuously since discontinuing treatment will result in the hair falling out again. Another option is Finasteride, commonly known as Propecia which does have some side effects but it has become known as the best prescription medicine for those with hair loss.

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Can Stress Cause Hair Loss

We all live with some amount of stress in our lives. It is a fact of life, some stress can be beneficial while other forms can be harmful to individuals, both mentally and physically. Telogen Effluvium is one of the effects that can result from extreme stress, basically this is a thinning of a persons hair due to stress. Stress and hair loss don’t have a direct relation, that is it is not necessary that one lead to the other. Stress doesn’t have a direct result on a persons hair loss.

Stress does not result in faster hair loss, rather it causes individuals to fall into personal habits that lead to the hair loss. Stress has a direct effect on your personal habits and you can minimize the effects of stress on your hair loss by dealing with these issues. Let us consider a few of the habits and the precautions you can to avoid both stress and hair loss.

Stress Factors

When people become stressed one thing they tend to do is neglect their eating habits. People will eventually suffer from different physical ailments if they have an unbalanced diet and hair loss could actually be one of the least problems to worry about. If you have stress and hair loss then it can be relatively mild warning sign that you should start eating right and work on correcting your diet. Consider that a normal person loses about a hundred follicles a day that grow back naturally while a person with an unbalanced diet will lose about two to three hundred hair each day, as a result the body can’t replenish the hairs as quickly.

As a result of stress some people will turn to bad habits such as alcohol and cigarettes. These habits are often overindulged by people who are enduring high periods of stress. Even in moderate amounts these vices can have health risks, but an increase of alcohol or cigarettes can cause major physical damages, one of these is hair loss. However, you can obviously prevent this from happening simply by quitting smoking or drinking or at the very least reducing it to a moderate level.

Although it may seem funny, nervous habits such as hair fiddling can result in hair loss. When under stress people tend to resort to nervous habits such as nail biting, fiddling with things or twirling their hair. The rougher you fiddle with your hair when stressed will result in worse damage to your hair. If you have this problem the best thing you can do is to discipline yourself to stop your hair fiddling habits.

You can’t completely stop stress and hair loss, but you can do your best to reduce the effects that stress will have on your hair loss.

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The Role Of Nutrients in Hair Loss

Let us look at the role of nutrition in hair loss.

Could something as basic as inadequate nutrition really contribute to excessive shedding of hair?
And does a sensible nutrition regimen play a role in helping hair to regrow?

Well, The answer is yes! to both questions. There is no doubt that poor nutrition and a hectic lifestyles can and does contribute to hair loss. Our present day diet can be associated with a number of nutritional deficiencies that contribute to avoidable hair loss.

Take for example:

The use of refined whole grains. This refining process reduces the essential Vitamin B content of the grain.
The over cooking of vegetables also cause destruction of essential B Vitamins.
Our diets are almost without rich raw leafy greens, which are a rich source of nutrients.
The vitamins that we have ingested are in most cases used to facilitate the digestion of nutritionally sterile carbohydrates like sugar and white flour. which for a large part of our present day diet.
Stimulants like caffeine, nicotine and alcohol rob the body of vital nutrients.
Excessive salt intake encourages hair loss because of its tendency to accumulate in tissue.
Low fiber intake inhibits digestion thus reducing the body’s ability to absorb and deliver nutrients to the blood stream.

Thus its clear poor nutrition can cause hair loss because the body will ration nutrients in a hierarchy of vital organs first and hair last.

While improved nutrition will in itself not result in new hair growth, you need external help with that, but it will definitely minimize the shedding of hair to a great extent and also support any hair regrowth treatment that you might use.

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Tag Archives: Loss

Seasonal and Thyroid Related Hair Loss in Women

Causes of Folliculitis

Best Hair Loss Product Options

Can Stress Cause Hair Loss

The Role Of Nutrients in Hair Loss