subject: Preventing Hair Loss - Understanding Common Hair Loss Diseases [print this page] There are a variety of hair and scalp diseases; a few are very common, while other more severe hair and scalp diseases are luckily rare. Alopecia Areata is an autoimmune skin sickness that causes the body's immune system to attack the hair follicles, causing hair loss in patches. It affects 1.7 percent of the people, including 4.7 million individuals in the U.S. In situations where the sickness advances to the point where all scalp hair is lost, it is called Alopecia Totalis, and where hair loss progresses to the entire body it is referred to as Alopecia Universialis. There is no identified cause for alopecia areata and thus no identified medication. The illness normally hits prior to age twenty, and does not seem to favor any particular sex or culture. Hair fall out and return in phases for the reason that hair loss with alopecia comes in phases.
Seborrheic Dermatitis
Seborrheic Dermatitis, a progressive kind of seborrhea, is a non-contagious skin sickness that causes extreme oiliness of the skin, usually in the scalp, caused by overproduction of sebum, the substance produced by the body to lubricate the skin where hair follicles are existing. Seborrhea is the form of the disease where oiliness only occurs without redness and scaling. The illness usually happens in newborns, middle-aged people, and the old, and is commonly identified in babies as cradle cap. The illness has no treatment, but in babies it often disappears in due course.
The condition continues in different levels of severity with adults. Flaking, scaling and reddishness usually are signs of this sickness. It is easily cured together with topical solutions found in creams containing corticosteroids and shampoos containing pine tar, selenium sulfide or salicylic acid. Seborrhea and seborrheic dermatitis are both easily cured and controlled, and should be because left untreated they could contribute to hair loss. In fact, a group of Japanese scientists have connected the overproduction of sebum to hair loss. This is because the sebaceous glands in parts of the scalp where hair is lessening or bald are enlarged, and are believed to cause the clogging of pores and some other problems that promote hair loss.
Psoriasis
Psoriasis is referred to as an immune-mediated illness that affects various areas and functions of the body. It is non-contagious, and amongst the areas of the body it could affect is the scalp. It normally appears as patches of raised red skin accompanied by burning and itching. Several contributing factors are believed to contribute to the outbreak of psoriasis, including emotional tension, several diseases, toxemia, the thinning of the intestinal walls and harmful reactions to specific drugs. At least half of individuals who experience psoriasis have scalp psoriasis. Comparable to seborrhea, scalp psoriasis left untreated can cause hair loss. Fortunately, it can also be treated together with a kind of topical creams and shampoos containing tar and salicylic acid.
Preventing Hair Loss - Understanding Common Hair Loss Diseases
