what are the differences between hair shedding hair thinning hair loss and
hair fall hair loss is a common issue for both men and women seeing more hair
in the hairbrush or the shower floor or the drain can be very distressing we see
patients every day in our practice who are anxious to understand if they are
permanently losing their hair patients we see often use terms like hair
shedding hair thinning hair loss and hair fall to describe their situation
I'll discuss these terms to help you understand these terms and situations
where there is potential long term hair loss as well as treatment I recommend in
my practice I'm Dr. Amiya Prasad I'm a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and
Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon I've been in
practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years I've been helping
patients with genetic pattern hair loss throughout my career with surgical hair
transplantation and medical therapies such as finasteride and minoxidil in
2011 I recognized a remarkable side effect of a wound healing material we
used to improve our hair transplant surgical results called acellular matrix
with PRP which resulted in reactivation of hair growth and thickening of
thinning hair I developed protocols based on my results with different
formulations and techniques and developed the Hair Regeneration system
for male and female pattern hair loss I founded TrichoStem Hair Regeneration
Centers to help make this treatment system geographically much more
accessible patients come to our offices for trichostem hair regeneration from
around the world the most common concern for people who are experiencing hair
shedding is the possibility they are experiencing permanent hair loss
according to the medical literature it's normal to shed
fifty to a hundred hairs a day this is usually not perceivable because of the
rate of hair regrowth individual hairs continuously grow for two to six years a
period called the anagen phase about 88 to 90 percent of all your hair follicles
are in the anagen phase so most of your hair is growing invisible at any given
time hair eventually stops growing temporarily but only eight to ten
percent of hairs do this when hair stops growing it enters into a short
transitional phase called catagen when the hair shaft starts to separate from
the hair follicle or root this transitional phase lasts about four
weeks the hair then sheds in a phase called telogen tillage and is also the
resting phase where the follicle doesn't produce hair for about three to four
months after the telogen phase the hair growth cycle starts again with the
antigen phase and the hair grows from the same follicle hair shedding where
200 or more hairs a day our shed is often associated with the temporary hair
loss condition for example hormonal effects from oral
contraceptives or hormonal changes before and after childbirth can be the
basis for hair shedding generally hair which sheds remains viable with the hair
follicles still intact and functional so the hair grows back a common form of
hair shedding is called telogen effluvium commonly telogen effluvium is
due to a stressful event that occurred two to five months prior to hair
shedding events that trigger telogen effluvium are often highly stressful
periods such as undergoing general anesthesia extensive surgery death and
the family divorce or hospitalization there is a condition called chronic
telogen effluvium which mostly affects women and is not directly associated
with a singular stressful event chronic telogen effluvium
is characterized by constant and significant hair shedding
with some relative stability in the density and overall scalp coverage there
is no direct treatment for telogen effluvium so you just allow for time to
let the hair grow back hair shedding is commonly caused in both men and women
who also undergo cancer treatment as the effects of chemotherapy results in
stopping of the active growth phase and is referred to as antigen effluvium
intervention is usually not necessary as the hair usually grows back after
chemotherapy is completed we've had some patients report that their hair quality
never came back to the way it was before undergoing chemotherapy hair thinning is
defined as a progression where hair density diminishes and individual hairs
after normal shedding come back thinner eventually the hair follicle disappears
altogether in male pattern hair loss a contributing variable to hair thinning
is the scalp sensitivity to DHT or dihydrotestosterone another aspect of
male pattern hair loss is the possibility of having a genetically
programmed limit to the number and longevity of hair growth cycles the drug
finasteride is used to reduce DHT it allows for prolongation of the hair
growth cycle however it has a limited value in the stimulation of hair growth
further we've observed many patients who've been on finasteride for over 15
years who still progressively lost a
significant volume of hair this doesn't mean that the finasteride didn't work it
just means that there are other variables which cause or contribute to
hair loss they continue in spite of being on the drug more than likely the
same individual would have had much less hair if they weren't on the financed
female pattern hair loss is much more common than is generally acknowledged
affecting 50% or more of women over 50 there can be some association with
decrease in estrogen as well as genetic factors female pattern hair loss is
diffuse which leads to a decrease in hair density resulting in widening of
the hair part described as a Christmas tree pattern the term hair fall is
commonly used in South Asian countries to mean awareness of hair loss which can
be caused by hair shedding and genetic pattern hair loss as mentioned earlier I
developed a treatment for male and female pattern hair loss based on
observations of improved scalp coverage during hair transplant in areas not
transplanted when we used PRP or platelet-rich plasma with a cellular
matrix produced by the company a cell since 2011 I found ways to combine these
materials and develop algorithms which I refined over the years based on the
responses I saw trichostem hair regeneration is not just an injection
treatment I create customized treatment plans for male and female pattern hair
loss patients based on the patient's gender age age of onset of hair loss
degree of hair loss and any prior medical treatment used for hair loss
although in large percentage of our patients have done well over over 5
years with only one treatment session patients who have moderate to advanced
hair loss may receive an additional treatment about 18 months or so after
the first treatment to maximize scalp coverage sustained hair growth and
thicker hair has been seen for 3 to 5 years or even more with this treatment
strategy our patients don't need to come in for injections every month or every 3
months for the treatment to be effective we follow our patients with stead
digital photography and microscope photos every three to six months for the
duration of the treatment plan and yearly thereafter we have achieved
visible and long-term improvement in hair thickness density and coverage in
over 99% of our patients when it comes to experiencing hair loss proper
diagnosis and optimal management can make a big difference
for your long-term outlook we live in a time where people are being sold hair
loss treatments where the practitioner or vendor makes no commitment to your
long-term management if you're experiencing hair loss and you're
considering a procedure find a doctor who will perform a thorough evaluation
show you before and after photos of their patients and provide you with a
rational treatment plan which you can have confidence in it I hope you found
this information helpful thank you for your question
you