Since we’ve spent the last two blogs talking about Dr. Lipton’s exciting new ARTAS Robotic Hair Restoration System, in this blog let’s get down to why you’re losing the hair in the first place. Here are the causes of hair loss in both men and women.
Why you’re losing your hair
Humans lose about 100 hairs each day. This sounds kind of frightening, but it’s not because a similar number of new hairs are growing in at the same time. Hair loss occurs when this cycle of hair growth and shedding is disrupted or when the hair follicle is destroyed and replaced with scar tissue.
These are the typical causes of hair loss:
- Your genes— Yep, you family history is the main cause of hair loss. The condition is known as male-pattern baldness or female-pattern baldness. This type of hair loss progresses gradually as the person ages and it follows predictable patterns. In men, hair loss is usually a receding hairline and bald spots typically on the crown of the head. In women, hair thins starting along the part line.
- Hormonal changes and medical conditions— Women can have temporary hair loss during hormonal changes that occur with childbirth, menopause, and thyroid problems. This usually reverses when the hormones stabilize. Medical conditions, such as alopecia areata, can cause patchy hair loss, as can scalp infections such as ringworm.
- Medications and supplements— Drugs that treat cancer, arthritis, depression, heart conditions, gout, and high blood pressure can have the unfortunate side effect of causing hair loss. This usually is temporary.
- Radiation therapy to the head— This can disrupt hair grow patterns.
- Stress— Physical or emotional shocks can lead to temporary hair loss.
- Certain hairstyles and hair treatments — Certain hairstyles, such as cornrows or pigtails, pull the hair very tight. This can lead to a type of hair loss called traction alopecia. Hot oil treatments and permanents can cause inflammation to the hair follicles and subsequent hair loss. If the follicles develop scar tissue, they will permanently stop growing hair.
Now you know the whys of hair loss. Fortunately, you can do something about it by seeing Dr. Lipton for his ARTAS Robotic Hair Restoration System. This system takes healthy follicles from the back of the scalp and transplants them to areas where you are losing hair, and it does so without any excessive trauma to the follicles. This ensures a much higher rate of successful follicle transfer than with other options for follicular unit extraction (FUE).
Interested in getting your hair back? Call Dr. Lipton at (972) 420-0023 to schedule a consultation.
