Hair Loss & Scalp Conditions
Hair loss can initiate significant stress, affect self-confidence and enjoyment of life. For a woman the loss of her “Crowning Glory” can be ‘psychologically devastating’. For many men it can be a major worry and damaging to self confidence.
Well-trained trichologists (post nominal letters: LTTS or FTTS) can advise on hair loss and scalp conditions.
Hair loss can be due to follicle evacuation associated with:
i) Local or general diseases of many kinds.
ii) Hair-shaft impoverishment and severance often following oxidative insult (bleaching, tinting), or chemical injuries affecting the structure e.g. relaxing, straightening or thermal damage (high temperature tongs, hair-driers etc).
The basic forms of baldness which can affect either gender:
The usually temporary conditions include:
Post surgical hairless. Post fever hair loss. Post natal hair loss. Alopecia Areata, Low serum iron, Low serum ferritin, Low serum B12, Injudicious dieting or other causes of rapid weight loss. Trichotillomania. Traction alopecia. Dermatitis. EczemaThe potentially permanent conditions being: Androgen related alopecia e.g. Male/Female pattern baldness. PCOS. Genetically inspired hair loss. Cicatricial alopecia,
Androgen related alopecia (AGA) currently affects up to 65% of the world’s male caucasoid population and a significant percentage of its females. Those with hair-shafts of Afroid or Mongoloid phenotypes are less likely to suffer this.
Male victims quote their principle concerns as: self-consiousness, lowered self-esteem, fear of social intimidation, depression. For female victims the consequences can be even more ‘devastating’
However medical science is advancing and can now offer hope to some in the form of drug treatments and surgical intervention (single hair follicle redistribution – natural looking ‘hair transplants’). Professor Barry Stevens was a pioneer in this surgical discipline some 40 + years ago, and remains an independent
The dilemma of lost scalp hair has been well documented throughout the history of man. His endless endeavor to ‘cure baldness’ has given rise to the most extraordinary treatments pre-dating the Egyptian civilization (4000 BC). Recent years have witnessed a revolution in scientific / medical research focused on the understanding and treatment of baldness – with limited success. Many ‘cures’ come and go but the elixir is as yet ‘elusive’.
Other body hair has also become a focus of attention with procedures for follicular destruction (e.g. Radio-diathermic current and Laser epilation).
The hair industry has become a major global entity serving the related needs of an ever increasing obsession by means of research, manufacture, and services industries including the hairdresser, the trichologist and the hair restoration surgeon.