The condition of the hair is an important indicator that can indicate a lack of vitamins and minerals, changes in hormonal levels, metabolic disorders, diseases of the thyroid gland and the organs of the gastrointestinal tract. On March 6, Izvestia was told about this by a dermatologist, an expert at the Hemotest laboratory, Alexandra Filev.
According to her, usually a person loses from 40 to 100 hairs per day. This is normal – this is how the scalp is updated. At the same time, 75% of women and 50% of men face the problem of persistent hair loss.
“To determine the severity of hair loss, a fairly simple diagnostic procedure that you can perform yourself is a hair pulling test. To do this, grab a strand of hair (about 50-60 pieces) as close as possible to the scalp and pull along the hair. This diagnostic method is carried out in several zones: in the frontal, occipital and parietal regions. If there are less than five hairs left in the hand, there is nothing to worry about. If more, this may indicate increased hair loss and a reason to consult a trichologist, ”said Filev.
Hair loss due to the action of dihydrotestosterone is called “androgenetic alopecia”. One of the main reasons for this unpleasant situation is an excessive amount of this sex hormone, the doctor explained. When testosterone interacts with the enzyme 5α-reductase, dihydrotestosterone is formed in the hair follicle, which adversely affects the condition of the hair. As a result, the hair becomes thinner, thinner, weaker and eventually falls out in certain areas.
According to statistics, with a long-term progressive nature of the course of the disease, more than 90% of all cases of hair loss are due to androgenetic alopecia. The remaining 10% are associated with other causes – stress, lack of vitamins, diseases of the thyroid gland and internal organs, medication.
“In addition to alopecia, there is another problem: the quality of the hair. If the metabolism is disturbed in the body, then the hair is the first to react to problems – it grows dull, breaks, falls out. This often happens with thyroid diseases, anemia, chronic infections, connective tissue diseases and gastrointestinal pathologies, ”said Filev.
Therefore, even if there are no symptoms of diseases, but the condition of the hair has deteriorated sharply, it is useful to take tests. To begin with, it is worth checking the level of thyroid hormones – T4, T3, thyroid-stimulating hormone. Then examine the level of vitamins B, D and PP, the specialist advises.
If the indicators are normal, the cause of hair loss may be anemia. A complete blood count and a study of the levels of serum iron, ferritin and transferrin will help to identify it. All this will make it possible to identify and cure the pathology in time, and therefore protect the health and beauty of the hair, Filev concluded.
On January 18, allergist-immunologist, dermatovenereologist of the European Medical Center Svetlana Turbovskaya told Izvestia about the causes of gray hair at a young age. She pointed out that premature graying can be due to stress, autoimmune diseases, as well as a lack of folic acid, iron, zinc and vitamin D3, which causes hair depigmentation.
