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Gathering Information About Hair Loss

Hair loss is a very common problem. Gathering information about hair loss can help you to make informed decisions about treatment. Anyone can experience hair loss from the young to the elderly. Age is one of the causes for hair loss. As you gather information about hair loss you will learn about all the various possible causes and decide what is likely to be the cause for your hair loss. A doctor or dermatologist can also help you to pinpoint the cause for your hair loss. Continue reading to discover what else you can learn as you go about gathering information about hair loss.

Your doctor or dermatologist can get you started on the road to gathering information about hair loss by telling you a lot of facts about causes and in particular what your risk factors may be. Risk factors could include family history, age, poor diet and improper hair care.

As your gather information you will discover that there are several different kids of hair loss. You can suffer from androgenic alopecia, which is also called male pattern baldness, or you can suffer from traumatic alopecia, which is when a person pulls out his or her own hair, or you can also have a side effect from a medication that you are taking of hair loss. You can also suffer from alopecia areata, which is simply the fact that hair is lost in patches.

You may discover that anyone; children, men and women can experience hair loss and that different ethnic groups may have hair loss occur at different rates. Those of Japanese descent on average develop male baldness 10 years earlier than Caucasian males, but they are also less likely to have hair loss because males of darker skin tones are less likely to develop hair loss than those of lighter complexions.

Women tend to develop hair loss as "thinning hair" instead of going bald although a small percentage of women do go bald.

As you gather information about hair loss you will also discover that hair loss can be a symptom of a medical condition or disease. Diseases that can have hair loss as a symptom include diabetes and lupus. Hair loss can occur; especially in children when a scalp infection is present most commonly a fungal infection.

While gathering information about hair loss you will soon discover that normal hair has a cycle to its growth that includes a phase where it grows and another where it rests. After hair rests, it falls out. Approximately 90% of the hair on your head is growing at any one time and 10% is resting. Hair falling out is therefore normal unless it is happening at a rate higher than 10% or faster than normal due to medical conditions.

Excessive hair loss can occur for many medical and non-medical reasons. You will discover that some of these reasons have to do with the medication an individual is on or the disease or medical condition they may have. Procedures like chemotherapy and radiation therapy have hair loss as a side effect or adverse reaction to the procedures. Non-medical reason may include the improper hair habits of the individual or improper use of hair equipment or hair products.

Like most topics the more information you know the better decisions you can make when facing the situation.