Hair is basically made up of a protein called keratin. A single hair is made up of the hair shaft which is visible to the eye, the root of the hair that is below the skin and the follicle from where the hair grows. At the bottom of the follicle is a little bulb where melanin is produced which gives the color to the hair.
The condition of alopecia areata occurs when coin sized bald patches are seen on the scalp – body hair is very rarely lost due to this. The cause of this disease is relatively unknown but it has been seen that emotional stress, responses to immune and autoimmune diseases, a genetic make-up and someone prone to allergies are the most likely affected.
The treatment for this condition ranges from application of creams and lotions to steroid injections and medicated shampoos which have fluocinonide and clobetasol in them, along with topical immunotherapy or cyclosporine and minoxidil, irritants like anthralin or topical coal tar which are good for hair loss have been used for sometime now. It has been seen that in about 50% of the afflicted hair regrows in a year’s time without any specific treatment. But the longer the hair loss persists, the fewer the chances of regrowth.
Telogen Effluvium is a hair problem where extreme stress causes hair fall. If there has been something like child birth or a severe bout of malnutrition, surgery or just stress. It takes about 6 months for the effect of the stress inducing event to reflect on the hair and suddenly you find that there is a lot of hair fall. It then happens that about 90% of the hair in the anagen phase (growing) or in the catagen phase (transitional) goes into the telogen phase which means the resting phase or they stop growing. With a full blown case of Telogen Effluvium it is possible to lose handfuls of hair at a time.
For its treatment, the first thing is to be gentle with the brushing or combing and scalp massages are required. This should be followed by a good diet of fruits and vegetables and lots of proteins. Get your thyroid function checked and your levels of folic acid, vitamins B12 and iron as these too can cause slow hair growth.
Trichotillomania is seen as a condition where a person pulls off or keeps plucking one’s own hair. This is a psychological condition and recovery in adults is not known. The psychology behind this habit is very confusing and there many problems that can crop up due to this.
The treatment for this is seen in the reuptake inhibitors of selective serotonin which has been found effective. When tested in a double blind study, significant improvement was seen in Clomipramine treatment. Drugs like Fluoxetine and its counterparts have limited effectiveness and come with side effects if used in the treatment of TTM. Even antidepressants are known to aggravate the condition.