The 10 most common causes of hair loss and the Best Treatments

1. Pregnancy:Post pregnancy hair loss is very common. There is a temporary thinning and sometimes breakage of hair due to the drastic changes in hormones. The body will resolves this issue itself within about three months after the signs appear.
2. Genetics: When thinning hair occurs at a young age, you can blame your parents! This is often the hardest form of hair loss to treat and should be addressed early on
3. Damaged Stem Cells in the hair follicles: This most commonly appears as patches of thinning hair or bald spots. Repeated trauma to the scalp or scarring is the main cause.
4. Lack of Protein: When protein is limited or there’s a sudden change in protein intake one might experience hair thinning or loss. I mostly encounter this issue with clients who recently changed from an animal protein diet to being a vegetarian.
5. Excessive amount of Vitamin A: Ingesting too much Vitamin A can alter the hair growth cycle. Once you stop overusing this supplement the hair growth should return to normal
6. Nutrient and Vitamin Deficiencies: Lack of B vitamins can cause thin hair, while lack of iron can cause slow hair growth. Crash dieting also has an effect on the ability of hair to grow due to the fluctuations in nutrient intake.
7. Stress: When your body is stressed an uneven number of hairs enter into a resting phase. These hairs will also fall out at the same time appearing as large amounts of hair loss
8. Menopause: Estrogen is the hormone responsible for protecting hair. Once estrogen decreases the hair thinning begins. This can also be noted in clients with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and other hormone disorders.
9. Medical & Autoimmune Conditions: When your body is constantly fighting a disease the nutrients and growth hormones go to the vital organs, leaving very little for hair, nails and skin. Hair thinning and loss can also be seen in thyroid disease.
10. Sudden weight loss: Losing 25lbs or more in one month can cause hear to weaken and break due to loss of healthy fats.

How do we combat hair thinning and hair loss at my practice?

After evaluating the client for theabove list of causes we are able to create a custom treatment plan. Somepatients require a combination of supplements and PRP treatments, while othersneed treatment for underlying medical conditions.

I like PRP (platelet rich plasma)therapy because of the statistically significant outcome. Clients can seethicker hair and a decrease in hair loss in the first 3 months and new hairgrowth in 6-8 months. On occasion I have seen new hair growth even earlier!Hair thickness increases by 60-80%. PRP can even restore the hairs originalcolor. I also recommend PRP as a preventative measure to preserve the integrityof the hair in those clients that are just beginning to notice a change. Theearlier you start tthe longer the longevity of the hair.