Hair falling out? Don’t panic!

Some people lose their hair in the aftermath of a severe shock such as a serious accident or bereavement – a condition called telogen effluvium, in which trauma disrupts the hair’s natural growth cycle so that it all falls out at once. This can also be triggered by unhealthy eating.

Dietary solutions
‘The commonest cause in women is a nutritional deficiency,’ says Dr Fenton. Avoid yo-yo dieting and crank diets, he warns. If you’re not eating animal products, make sure you have enough protein, zinc and iron from other sources, and take vitamin B supplements.

Things have moved on since one caller to Hairline was told by her GP not to worry since there were some very nice hats in the shops. A study at the University Hospital of Wales, published summer 2001 in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, found that hair loss causes as significant an impact on quality of life as severe illness such as psoriasis. Medical researchers recently set up an organisation, the Hair Foundation, to bring all the latest information together.

Drug treatments
A lotion called minoxidil (Regaine) has been shown to help alopecia areata when used with the steroid drug prednisolone. Though steroids can have serious side effects, including raised blood pressure and bone-thinning when taken for long periods, the course for hair loss only lasts about 40 days – just long enough, Dr Fenton finds, for patients to report feeling energetic or even euphoric!

Another course of action is to try to irritate the scalp into producing hair again – amazingly enough, this often works. Doctors use a chemical called diphenylcyclopropenone (Diphencyprone) or leaves from the plant primula obconica.

Minoxidil has been shown to help alopecia androgenetica, with a success rate of 60 per cent reported for the Extra Strength prescription formula and about 40 per cent for the milder over the counter version. Drugs such as the contraceptive pill Dianette can be used to bring the hormones back into balance.