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Hair Loss, What Amount of Hair Do You Shed Every Day ?

03.11.2008 in HAIR LOSS FACTS

Although prevalent belief insists that humans shed 100 hairs daily, no one is quite sure, according to a new study. The current belief also lacks scientific basis and does not indicate whether shedding remains constant with age or if it is similar for men and women.

A better and more reliable way of calculating hair loss is a 60-second count, concluded the study by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.

“Currently, there is no widely accepted or standard method for assessing the number of hairs shed daily,” said the study.

The study, led by Carina A. Wasko, looked at hair loss in 60 healthy men (half aged 20-40 years and half aged 41-60) without evidence of baldness.

All participants were given identical combs and instructions to wash hair with the same brand of shampoo for three consecutive mornings.

On the fourth day, they were asked to comb hair forward for 60 seconds over a towel or pillowcase of contrasting colour before shampooing.

The men combed their hair this way and then counted hairs shed for three consecutive days. This procedure was repeated in eligible participants six months later.

The younger set of participants shed 0 to 78 hairs, with an average loss of 10.2 hairs per 60-second test. Men aged 41-60 shed 0 to 43 hairs, with an average loss of 10.3 hairs per 60-second test.

Results were consistent on consecutive days for all participants. When repeated six months later in both age groups, the hair counts did not change much.

“The hair counts were repeated and verified by a trained investigator, with results similar to those of subject hair counts,” the authors write.

“The 60-second hair count is a simple, practical and objective tool for monitoring conditions associated with hair shedding,” the authors said.

These findings have appeared in the latest issue of the journal Archives of Dermatology.

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Hair loss and depression

14.10.2008 in HAIR LOSS FACTS

Question

I was taking Prozac for my depression but came off it about three monts ago.

Recently I have been losing a lot of hair, about a handful every time I wash it and a fair amount during the day. I suffered from this kind of hair loss before I was put on Prozac, but while I was on my tablets, less hair fell out.

I have been feeling very tired and fed up lately, could my hair loss be a symptom of returning depression or could it be due to a hormone imbalance?

Answer

Rare cases of hair loss have been reported with using Prozac, and hair loss such as this (alopecia) usually shows three months or so after the initial cause, which would fit with your Prozac use.

Depression may also occasionally cause hair loss, as may other hormonal imbalances such as thyroid underactivity. If you have not already had some simple blood tests taken by your doctor I think it would be a good idea to do so, and certainly you should see them again to let them know how you are feeling.

This could be an early sign your depression is returning.

Yours sincerely

The Medical Team

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Bald? Here's who to blame in your family tree

By Lyndsay Moss
Health Correspondent

IT IS one of men’s biggest fears as they age – but a genetic discovery means baldness could be prevented in generations to come.

As their plugholes become clogged and combs grow increasingly redundant, many turn to lotions, potions and surgical remedies to hold back hair loss.

But now researchers have discovered genetic links that explain how baldness can be passed from father to son.

The findings could help lead to treatments to stop men losing their hair, and prevent the resulting mental anguish.

The research, published in the journal Nature Genetics, focuses on detailed studies of men’s genetic make-up.

Until now, the only known genetic link with male baldness was on the female chromosome, meaning it could be passed down to men from their mother’s father.

Estimates suggest more than 80 per cent of cases of male- pattern baldness – which causes the distinctive M-shaped hairline – are inherited.

Dr Tim Spector, from King’s College London, and colleagues in Canada, Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands, studied 1,125 Caucasian men, and found inherited baldness was closely linked with genetic variations in two regions of chromosome 20.

The chromosome – one of the bundles of DNA in every cell that contain genes – can be inherited from the mother or the father, meaning baldness is no longer linked solely to the female line of the family.

Researcher Dr Brent Richards, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, said: “It’s long been recognised that there must be several genes causing male- pattern baldness.

“Until now, no-one could identify those other genes.

“If you have both the risk variants we discovered on chromosome 20 and the unrelated known variant on the X (female] chromosome, your risk of going bald increases seven-fold.”

The findings were backed by another team, from the University of Bonn in Germany, whose study of 300 men with serious hair loss found a link with the same two genetic variations.

Around 14 per cent of men are believed to carry these two chromosome-20 variants.

It is unclear how the genes may cause baldness, but experts suspect one variant might influence male hormone activity.

There is now hope the findings could help the search for hair-loss treatments.

Dr Spector said: “Early prediction before hair loss starts may lead to some interesting therapies that are more effective than treating late-stage hair loss.”

Dr Richards said so far they had only identified a cause of hair loss.

“Treating male-pattern baldness will require more research,” he said. “But, of course, the first step in finding a way to treat most conditions is to identify the cause.”

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Bald? Here’s who to blame in your family tree