Hair are a mirror of general health of a person. Strong and beautiful hair are indicative of a good health. Every person experiences hair fall at some point in his or her lifetime. In a few cases it is permanent whereas in some it is temporary. Although being a pain free condition, patients experience lot of anxiety and emotional distress because of it.
Hair loss is not just a cosmetic issue which concerns skin and hair. In most cases loss of hair is due to an internal disturbance. There is no improvement in the hair fall without treatment of the internal disturbance. Many so called hair treatments are external, ineffective and unaffordable to masses.
Hair is composed of columns of dead, keratinized epidermal cells bonded together by extracellular proteins.
There are three Stages of Hair Cycle:
The hair follicle goes through these 3 stages.
1) Growth Stage - Scalp hair is in the growth stage for 2 to 6 years. During this stage, cells of the hair matrix divide. These new cells are added to the base of the hair root and existing hairs are pushed upwards due to which the hair grows longer.
2) Regression Stage - This stage lasts for 2 to 3 weeks. During this stage, the cells of the hair matrix stop dividing; the hair follicle atrophies; and the hair stops growing.
3) Resting Stage - This stage generally remains for 3 months. During this stage, the hair stops growing and a new growth cycle begins after this stage.
Post this Resting Stage, a new hair begins to grow in the place of the old hair.
At any given point of time, about 85% of the scalp hairs are in the growth stage and remaining are in the resting stage.
Normal Hair Loss - In an adult, hair loss of about 50 to 80 hairs per day is considered to be normal and does not require any treatment.
Generally, hair loss is considered for treatment when the rate of hair loss increases suddenly even if it is in the normal range or when the hair loss is greater than 100 hairs per day.
Hair fall can be due to various reasons:
• Illness - The hair loss could usually increases after any acute illness.
• Age - The hair loss generally increases with age and can lead to either male pattern or female pattern baldness.
• Genetics - A family history of baldness can lead to hair loss in certain individuals.
• Gender - Females are more prone to hair loss due to various hormonal changes during puberty, post-delivery, and during menopause.
• Severe emotional stress - Emotional trauma or stress affects the hypothalamus and can cause certain hormonal imbalance leading to a hair loss.
• Systemic illness - Hyper/Hypothyroidism and Kidney disorders, can cause hair loss. Certain skin conditions, such as Lichen Planopilaris and Psoriasis, can also cause an increase in hair fall.
• Radiation therapy - The use of radiations in cancer treatments also leads to increased hair loss in cancer patients.
• Chemotherapy - Certain drugs used in the cancer treatment, to kill the cancer cells, adversely affect the healthy cells, particularly hairs, thereby increasing the hair loss. However, after chemotherapy, hair re-growth can be seen.
• Rapid weight-loss diet plans that severely restrict calories or protein increase hair loss. Also, nutritional deficiencies of certain nutrients, such as iron and zinc can increase hair loss.
Homeopathy Treatment For Hair Fall
Homoeopathy treats patient as a whole and not in parts which is why it restores total health of the patient, and hair loss is corrected easily and permanently.
Homoeopathy assists nature's healing process which is why quality of new hair is much better as compared to only external therapies.
Besides good hair care, diet and lifestyle, homeopathy can address some of the underlying causes of hair loss.
Homeopathy triggers the natural healing responses in the body. And in the case of hair loss, it offers quite a few options for treating this condition at the source.
Depending on the cause of the problem evaluate the root causes and discover a suitable homeopathic remedy to address the symptoms of hair loss
Hair loss, as it is a chronic problem, requires a constitutional treatment.
Homeopathic medicines which are prepared from plant, mineral, and animal sources help in reducing the quantity of hair loss.
Homeopathic medicines are individualized, selected based on the individual case history of the patient, by taking into consideration the cause like hormonal imbalance, nutritional factor, emotional stress, the nature of the patient, and other factors which may be acting as a maintaining cause in the hair loss.
Duration of the Treatment:
The initial improvement can be seen in 8 to 10 weeks. The treatment course depends on the patient and varies from case to case.
The duration of treatment depends on mainly:
• The severity of hair fall
• The extent of spread as in Alopecia areata.
• The duration of the Hair fall
• Associated systemic illnesses if any like Hyper/Hypothyroidism.
• The use of any chemical agents or medications, such as Steroids, Antihypertensive drugs, etc.