HAIR LOSS: DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

Ketty
ILLUMINATION
Published in
5 min readMar 25, 2024
Hair loss treatment
Hair loss image by freepik

Finding the cause of hair loss is the first step towards developing an effective treatment. Looking up a board-licensed dermatologist allows for an accurate diagnosis. These medical professionals appreciate treating the wide range of causes of hair loss and have extensive knowledge of them.

How do dermatologists identify the cause of hair loss?

In order to determine the cause of your hair loss, a dermatologist begins by gathering information. Your dermatologist is going to:

Make inquiries. It’s important to know how long you’ve had hair loss and whether it started suddenly.

Take a close look at your nails, scalp, and any other areas where you are losing hair. This analysis provides important hints about what’s going on.

Check the health of your hair. Your dermatologist can learn a lot about the health of your hair and whether it is prone to breaking by gently tugging on it.

If your dermatologist believes that an illness, nutritional deficit, hormone imbalance, or infection may be the cause of your hair loss , you may want to You may wish to have a scalp biopsy or blood test. These evaluations could be carried out for your dermatologist’s clinic.

Your dermatologist can typically identify the cause of your hair loss if they have this information.

Your dermatologist may occasionally require further details. If a person has multiple causes, this may be the case. For instance, a lady may be experiencing noticeable hair loss as a result of giving birth to a baby a few months ago. Less obviously, she might possibly have early inherited loss.

When hair can naturally grow back

Indeed, your hair might grow back naturally. This may occur if you have recently:

  • conceived a child
  • recuperated from a serious disease or underwent surgery
  • received cancer therapy
  • 20 pounds or more dropped
  • had a mild form of alopecia areata, an immune system-related disorder that attacks your hair follicles
structure of the hair
Structure of the hair by freepik

When should patients seek treatment for hair loss from dermatologists?

Your dermatologist might suggest a treatment to hasten the growth of your hair, even though it might regrow naturally. Treatment may be necessary in certain cases to stop more hair loss.

One or more of the following may be included in a hair loss treatment strategy.

Hair loss remedies to be used at home

Convenience is a benefit of at-home therapies, many of which are available without a prescription. Your dermatologist may incorporate one or more of the following into your at-home treatment plan because studies have shown that they can be helpful.

Minoxidil (Rogaine®): Although it cannot grow back a full head of hair, minoxidil can aid with early hair loss.

Apply minoxidil to your scalp as prescribed, usually once or twice a day, to start using it.

  • When taken as prescribed, minoxidil can:
  • Stimulate hair growth
  • Prevent comparable hair loss.

Procedures to Help Regrow Hair

While at-home treatments are convenient, a procedure conducted by a board-certified dermatologist is typically more successful. As a result, your dermatologist may incorporate one of the following into your treatment strategy.

Corticosteroid injections: To assist your hair regrow, your dermatologist will inject this drug into the bald (or thinning) areas. These injections are typically administered every 4 to 8 weeks as needed, so you must return to your dermatologist’s office for therapy.

This is thought to be the most effective treatment for patients with a few areas of alopecia areata, a hair loss problem. In a trial of 127 patients with patchy alopecia areata, more than 80% who received these injections had at least 1/2 of in their hair regrow inside 12 weeks.

Hair transplant: If you have thinning or balding caused by male (or female) pattern baldness, your dermatologist may recommend a hair transplant. This has the potential to be a successful and long-lasting treatment.

To read more, visit: A hair transplant can provide permanent, natural-looking results.

Laser therapy: If using minoxidil every day or using medicine to address hair loss does not appeal to you, laser therapy may be a viable choice. A few studies suggest that this, also known as low-level laser treatment, could help:

  • Hereditary hair loss.
  • Alopecia areata.
  • Hair loss due to chemotherapy

Promote healing and hair growth following a hair transplant.

According to studies, laser therapy is safe and painless, although it takes multiple treatment sessions. To see a little of Hair growth, you could want numerous remedies every week for lots months.

Platelet-wealthy plasma (PRP): Studies display that this could be a secure and powerful hair loss treatment. PRP includes drawing a small quantity of your blood, putting your blood right into a system that separates it into parts, after which injecting one a part of your blood (the plasma) into the region with hair loss.

The complete system takes approximately 10 mins and commonly doesn`t require any downtime.

You will want to go back for repeat injections. Most sufferers go back as soon as a month for three months after which as soon as each three to six months.

Within the primary few months of treatment, you could observe which you are dropping much less or minimum quantities of hair.

What is the outcome for someone experiencing hair loss?

Many people who suffer from hair loss can observe hair restoration after receiving a proper diagnosis. If you require therapy for regrowth, the sooner you begin, the more likely you are to see results.

Not all types of hair loss can be treated, but a dermatologist may be able to help prevent future hair loss.

  • It can take months to see benefits from treatment.
  • No one treatment works for everyone, even if they have the same type of hair loss.
  • Hair loss can be obstinate at times, necessitating the use of multiple treatments before determining which one works.

Self-care is also vital for preventing and managing hair loss. Find out what dermatologists

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Ketty
ILLUMINATION

Entrepreneur , Blogger, Technology Journalist