If you find more hair on pillows or combs, you will often worry about [alopecia].
This kind of situation may just be that more hair falls off than usual, but in fact [alopecia] is not that simple.
Hair growth goes through two stages
Hair does not grow continuously from hair follicles. They have to go through a cycle and go round and round.
- The first is the hair growth stage of two years or more, which is called [long-term hair generation]; Then it enters a resting period of up to two months, called “hair resting period”.
On the scalp of a healthy person, about 80% ~ 90% of hair follicles are in the long-term period of hair occurrence, while the remaining 10% ~ 20% are in the period of hair resting.
Usually [hair loss] will stop by itself.
In fact, hair drop is a physiological phenomenon. Normal people will drop about 50-100 hairs every day, and then a corresponding number of new hairs will be added to keep the total amount of hair basically unchanged.
If more than this amount of hair falls off within a period of time, and the new hair is not enough to fill the gap, it is [severe hair loss], which is medically called [resting alopecia].
Patients with [resting alopecia] usually have their hair growing back to the original level after a period of time.
Severe hair loss is common in the following groups:
- The sudden pressure of pregnant women who lose too much weight (such as relatives’ illness, divorce, unemployment, etc.), high fever (especially fever reduction after high fever), surgery or rehabilitation after serious illness, stop taking contraceptives,
Most people suffer from resting hair loss when their bodies undergo major changes. For example, New mothers may lose a lot of hair two months after delivery, usually the worst four months after delivery. This kind of hair loss is only temporary because the hormone level of women will fluctuate sharply after delivery and then gradually return to normal. Generally, within one year after delivery, the new mother’s hair will return to the pre-natal level.
If you are under certain pressure or stimulation all the time, excessive hair loss will always exist, so try to avoid the above-mentioned incentives and learn to decompress yourself.
Some [hair loss] will not stop automatically.
For some reason, a large amount of hair falls off and cannot be regenerated, and the total amount of hair continuously decreases, which can be called “alopecia”. This phenomenon is medically named “alopecia in growing period”.
It should be noted that [alopecia in the growing period] may eventually cause the patient’s hair to fall off completely and cannot grow out again.
The most common causes include:
- Genetic factors, immune system overreaction, harmful hair care and hairdressing products with certain drugs and therapies, excessive hair pulling,
Hair loss during the growth period is often caused by obvious inducements, so hair will regenerate after the inducements are removed. For example, cancer patients will lose a large amount of hair when receiving chemotherapy or head radiotherapy. If they stop chemotherapy or head radiotherapy, hair will regenerate.
If you suspect that a certain drug or therapy is the cause of alopecia, please inform the doctor in time, but do not stop treatment on your own.
Growing alopecia caused by other reasons may need to be treated as soon as possible, and the earlier the treatment, the better the effect. For example, patients with hereditary alopecia can improve their symptoms through treatment, and alopecia will become more and more serious if not treated in time.
Ask a dermatologist to distinguish between alopecia and hair loss.
If you are worried or anxious because you have lost a lot of hair, don’t bear it silently. Patience alone will make the situation of hair loss more serious.
Please ask dermatologists for help in time and let them judge whether it is [hair loss] or [alopecia]. In fact, many types of alopecia can be improved by treatment. The sooner treatment is started, the better the effect will be.
Editor: Chuyang