Understanding Hair Loss: Causes, Treatments, and Prevention

Hair loss, also known as alopecia, can be caused by a variety of factors. Some of these are preventable and treatable while others are permanent with little option to reverse the effects.

Illnesses

• Diseases, such as the autoimmune disease alopecia areata, can be a cause of hair loss. In this disease, white blood cells attack hair follicles, causing those hairs to fall out.

Stress

• Excessive stress can lead to hair loss. External stressors cause hair follicles to go dormant, leading to thinning hair.

Overtreatment

• Overly processed hair may fall out because overtreatment with dyes, perms or other processes can weaken the hair strands.

Nutritional factors

• Deficiencies in certain vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, B vitamins, vitamin E, copper, iron, zinc and folic acid, can cause temporary hair loss.

Hormonal changes

• Hair loss is common for women during life phases such as pregnancy or menopause, when hormone levels change dramatically in a short period of time.

Genetic traits

• In some people, hair loss is genetic. Pattern baldness is not caused by any external factors, but instead is encoded in the genes.