Save precious locks - Wellbeing

Alopecia or hair loss is a matter of psychological concern for both males and females. Alopecia may be of scarring and non-scarring type. Hair follicles go through cyclic phases of activity and inactivity. Each cycle comprises three phases:

Anagen: It is the growing phase, which lasts two to six years, the
average being three years.

Catagen: It is the transitional phase, which lasts for one to two weeks.

Telogen: It is the resting phase, lasting for three to four months.
In a normal scalp, 90 per cent of the hair are in the anagen phase, while 10 per cent are either in the catagen or telogen phase at any given point of time. The normal human scalp has about 1,00,000 hair and normally, 100 hair are shed everyday. What are the
possible causes of hair fall?

Emotional stress
Starvation & crash diets
Malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid and other medical conditions
Post-surgery effects of hepatic or renal failure
Iron and zinc deficiency
Post-pregnancy effects
Thyroid or pituitary disorder
Collagen vascular disease

Treatment

The hair sample must first be tested. And the cause, if established, should be treated. If there is any bacterial or fungal infection, it must be treated. Dandruff or lice, if present, should be treated.

Vitamin and zinc supplements are essential for arresting hair loss and helping hair regeneration.

Anaemia, if diagnosed, needs prompt treatment with adequate iron supplementation.
nPlatelet-rich plasma or Dracula therapy, as it is known, is another option. Your blood is drawn, centrifuged and platelet-rich plasma fluid, rich in growth factors, is reinjected into your scalp. The treatment is safe and promotes hair regeneration. When nothing works or the damage is too much, one can opt for hair transplant.

(The author is a cosmetic dermatologist)