Your hair’s growth cycle uses a surprising amount of your body’s resources. Hair growth requires nutrients like proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals, as well as steady blood flow to deliver their benefits to the scalp. Health issues – even brief illnesses – can short-circuit these delicate systems and cause temporary (and occasionally permanent) hair loss.
What Illnesses Cause Hair Loss?
Any disease, disorder, or condition that affects the body can have a detrimental impact on your hair. Even common bacterial and viral infections, especially when accompanied by a fever, can cause a disruption in your hair’s growth cycle. Hair loss is frequently reported after a bout with COVID-19 or the flu. Other conditions often associated with hair loss are cancer, anemia, chronic kidney disease, syphilis, hormonal imbalances, mental illnesses, and autoimmune disorders.
In some cases, medications used to treat illnesses may contribute to new or worsening hair loss. ACE inhibitors, antidepressants, antifungals, beta blockers, blood thinners, chemotherapy drugs, NSAIDs, and steroids, among many others, all list hair loss as a potential side effect.
Is My Immune System Attacking My Hair?
Autoimmune disorders cause the immune system to divert the body’s resources away from the hair and scalp. Some even wage a direct attack on hair follicles, resulting in hair-damaging inflammation and significant hair loss. Alopecia areata, cicatricial alopecia, psoriasis, lupus, celiac disease, Hashimoto’s disease, Graves’ disease, scleroderma, IBD, hypothyroidism, and hyperthyroidism are just some of the disorders that may cause autoimmune hair loss.
Autoimmune hair loss may present as:
- Telogen effluvium (overall hair thinning across the scalp)
- Alopecia areata (patchy hair loss on the scalp)
- Alopecia totalis (complete hair loss from the scalp)
- Alopecia universalis (loss of all hair throughout the scalp and body)
How Do I Stop Autoimmune Hair Loss?
The best way to tackle any form of hair loss resulting from a health issue is to work with your physician to address the underlying cause. When an illness clears up or an autoimmune disease is well-controlled, hair loss may resolve on its own over time. In the meantime, we offer treatments like platelet rich plasma (PRP) that may slow health-related hair loss and create the best possible conditions for regrowth. We strongly suggest beginning treatment as early as possible for best results and before hair loss progresses.
Help for Health-Related Hair Loss
If an illness or autoimmune issue is impacting your hair, Rothesay Laser and Hair Clinic is here to help. For more information or to make an appointment, contact us at (506) 847-8302 or contact us online. We offer complimentary consultations for many of our services and are happy to answer any questions you may have. We look forward to hearing from you!
