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Certain nutritional deficiencies, medications, and scalp conditions or damage can contribute to hair loss or increased shedding. If you believe any of the following is the cause of your hair loss, consult a physician for more information.
| Cause | Inadequate Nutrition |
| Effects on Hair | Nutritional deficiencies must be severe to cause hair loss. In situations where hair loss is the result of a nutritional deficiency, other more serious symptoms are usually evident. Nutritional treatments for hair loss are only effective in the rare situations where a nutritional deficiency actually exists. A deficiency of iron can results in anemia or a reduced amount of red blood cells, and this can contribute to hair loss. Anemic people generally appear pale and weak. |
| Cause | Trauma and Burns |
| Effects on Hair | Trauma to hair follicles can result in permanent hair loss. Thermal and chemical burns for example, can kill hair follicles and result in hair loss. Hair straighteners can cause follicle damage and produce serious hair loss. |
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| Cause | Thyroid Disease and Hair Loss |
| Effects on Hair | Thyroid gland irregularities cause hair loss. There is no way to predict which patients will experience hair loss, which will not, and who will be severely affected and who will have only minimal hair loss. Excessive thyroid hormone production is a condition called hyperthyroidism which results in thin soft hairs that are easily extracted, along with other symptoms. An under-active thyroid gland causes thyroid hormone deficiency, called hypothyroidism which results in coarse lifeless hairs, that are also easily extracted, along with other symptoms. Fortunately, hair loss from hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism is usually reversible with proper treatment of the thyroid condition. Typically hair loss does not immediately stop when the blood work becomes normal. Most people stop losing their hair and begin replacing lost hair a few months after the thyroid hormone levels become normal. Stress can contribute to hair loss. Thyroid disease can have a direct impact on the psychological well-being of patients, particularly under stress. Often as patients become more concerned about their hair loss, their stress levels increase, making the situation worse. Because of the often fragile condition of the scalp and hair follicles, one must be cautious when considering chemical treatments for hair such as coloring or permanent waves. Cutting the hair shorter, using moisturizing and conditioning hair products, and avoiding back combing decrease stress on the hair. |
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| Cause | Physiologic Alopecia |
| Effects on Hair | Physiologic alopecia is the sudden hair loss in infants, loss of straight hairline in adolescents, and diffuse hairloss after childbirth. It is usually temporary. |
| Cause | Non-scarring Alopecia |
| Effects on Hair | Predisposing factors of non-scarring alopecia also include radiation, many types of drug therapies and drug reactions, bacterial and fungal infections, psoriasis, seborrhea, and endocrine disorders, such as thyroid, parathyroid, and pituitary dysfunction. |
| Cause | Scarring Alopecia |
| Effects on Hair | Scarring alopecia causes irreversible hair loss. It may result from physical or chemical trauma, or chronic tension at the hair shaft, such as braiding or rolling the hair. Diseases that produce alopecia include destructive skin tumors, granulomas, lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, follicular lichen planus, and severe bacterial or viral infections, such as folliculitis or herpes simplex. |
Common Conditions, Medications, and Chemicals that Can Cause Hair Loss (Telogen effluvium or toxic effluvium)
At times, hair is lost due to stresses, poisons or medical conditions. Hair loss was reported in patients during the 1918 flu epidemic. The characteristic feature of this type of hair loss is a latent period of several weeks between the inciting event and clinical hair loss. There is a greater sensitivity of actively growing (anagen) hairs, in contrast to resting hair, to a variety of toxic chemical or physical agents. Indeed, x-ray epilation to rid the scalp of fungus infections was standard therapy. The accidental exposure to poisons or natural products also may cause hair loss. Some cosmetics have produced hair loss.
| Cause | Trichotillomania |
| Effects on Hair | Trichotillomania is the compulsive pulling out of one's own hair. It is most common in children. In trichotillomania, patchy, incomplete areas of hair loss with many broken hairs appear primarily on the scalp but may occur on other areas as well, such as the eyebrows. In trichotillomania, an occlusive dressing encourages normal hair growth, simply by calling attention to the problem (and to the possible need for psychiatric counseling). |
| Medications for... | Name of Drug |
| Agents for Gout | Allopurinol (Loporin, Zyloprim |
| Anti-coagulants (Blood Thinner) | Coumadin and Heparin |
| Anti-convulsants for epilepsy | trimethadione (Tridione) |
| Anti-depressants | tricyclics, amphetamines |
| Anti-arthritics | penicillamine, auranofin (Ridaura), indomethacin (Indocin), naproxen (Naprosyn), sulindac (Clinoril), and methotrexate (Folex) |
| Anti-thyroid Agents | carbimazole, Iodine, thiocyanate, thiouracil |
| Beta blocker drugs for high blood pressure | atenolol (Tenormin), metoprolol (Lopressor), nadolol (Corgard), propranolol (Inderal) and timolol (Blocadren) |
| Cancer chemotherapy medications | (Many) |
| Choesterol-lowering drugs | clofibrate (Atromid-S) and gemfibrozil (Looped) |
| Drugs derived from vitamin A | Tretinoin (Actuate) and etretinate (Tegison) |
| Male hormones | (anabolic steroids) |
| Parkinson medication | levodopa (Doper, Larodopa) |
| Ulcer drugs | Cimetidine (Tagamet), ranitidine (Mantic) and Cimetidine (Pepped) |
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| Cause | Chemicals |
| Effects on Hair | Salts of lithium, lead, mercury, selenium, bismuth, arsenic, thallium, and borates Selenocystathionine. Coroprene dimers used in the synthetic rubber industry. |
| Cause | Plants and Foods |
| Effects on Hair | Ingestion of the nuts of the monkey pot tree, cocoa de mono (Lecithin Collabra) a deciduous tree widely distributed in Central and South America. Plants such as Stanley, Astragals pectinatus (locoweed), Lacuna, Mellitus (yellow sweet clover), Colchicum autumnal, Glorious, and Saptaceae (several Brazilian woods of this family). The amino acid analog, mimosine, from the seeds of the shrubby tree Leucaena glauca. This species is widely established in Hawaii (where it was once planted as fodder for grazing animals) and can be found growing wild in southern Florida. |
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| Additional Causes | |
| Discontinuation of oral contraceptives | After giving birth to a child |
| Radiation | X-Ray neutrons, alpha particles |
| Tick bites | |
| Hair Mites | (Demodex Folliculorum) |
Demodex is a narrow, wormlike mite that lives in the hair follicles of the scalp, eyelashes, nose and chin of most adults. No one knows what role it plays in hair follicle health although there have been unproved claims that it may cause hair loss. Certain persons with very reactive immune responses to the mite may suffer hair loss from its presence. However, as with the skin's natural bacteria, it may keep away more harmful parasites.
Dr. William Regelson, of the Medical College of Virginia has recently proposed (February 1998) that Demodex is implicated in hair loss. He speculates that people who eventually lose their hair and those who do not, however, likely depends on whether the scalp produces an inflammatory reaction in an attempt to reject the mite.
A researcher at Nioxin, a hair-care and cosmetics developer based in Lithium Springs, GA has recently claimed the discovery of Demodex. However, Demodex was first described in 1842, has been the subject of many studies. While Demodex is associated with many skin conditions, most researchers have concluded that the mite is not a major factor in hair loss. The patterns of hair loss do not correspond with Demodex populations. However, excessive mites have been associated with loss of eyelashes (Demodex blepharitis).
A 1996 study from the Department of Laboratory Medicine, VA Medical Center in North Carolina, published the results of a found an association between mite populations in the hair follicle and scalp inflammation. Demodex mites were found in over 40% of follicles with inflammation, but in just 10% of the follicles without inflammation. However, the researchers could not conclude whether Demodex caused the inflammation or preferentially colonized inflamed follicles.
A 1995 study by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic concluded that while Demodex tend to colonized in the lumen of hair follicles, they do not cause any noticeable pathological conditions. The most common conditions associated with Demodex is a swelling of the colonized hair follicle. This normally requires up to a dozen mites for swelling to take place but many infested follicles showed no swelling.
Skin conditions associated with Demodex can be easily treated by topical medication.
Medications include gentamicin sulfate, an ointment of a 0.5% selenium sulfide cream, 4% pilocarpine gel, an ointment of 10% sulfur and 5% balsam and a gel of 4% pilocarpine gel. Pilocarpine gel is directly toxic to the mites by constricting their bronchioles and suffocating them. Nioxin sells a Semodex line of products formulated Demodex infestation. The Semodex line of products is available in many hair salons in the US or send an e-mail to HairSite@aol.com if you have trouble locating Semodex in your area.
