Common Causes Of Hair Loss

Significant Stress

Significant stress causes hair loss. In some cases, the stress comes from another condition, including trichotillomania and alopecia areata. In addition, however, some individuals dealing with significant and prolonged stress appear to shed hair more than someone who is not experiencing as much stress. This may be because stress can cause an individual's hair follicles to enter the resting phase. This means that they will not grow new strands of hair. Unfortunately, hair will start to fall out more easily over time, and without new strands, patients will be left with hair loss.

Thankfully, stress-induced hair loss is not permanent and is, overall, fairly easy to treat. Individuals must engage in stress relief. This means trying relaxation techniques such as mindfulness and meditation. When individuals are able to lower their stress, they can lessen the amount of hair they lose and make their hair grow again.

Hypothyroidism And Hyperthyroidism

Individuals who have thyroid problems often experience hair loss. The major conditions that cause hair loss are hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. In the former, patients have an underactive thyroid, and in the latter, they have an overactive thyroid. Thus, patients will have either too much thyroid hormone or not enough. There are a couple of reasons why patients with these thyroid conditions deal with hair loss. Hair loss is a side effect of some antithyroid drugs, such as methimazole.

In addition, having too much or too little thyroid hormone can often trigger telogen effluvium. This is a scalp disorder. It causes the patient's hair to enter a resting phase too early, where it will not grow. In this state, patients may deal with the loss of up to seventy percent of their hair within two months. Patients must receive treatment for their thyroid condition in order to reverse their hair loss. This may mean taking the right medication or undergoing thyroid surgery, among other options.