Potential Causes of Sudden Hair Loss
 Introduction
Infection, trauma, or side effects to certain drugs are typically the causes of sudden hair loss. Inparticular the drugs tht are used in chemotherapy. Sudden hair loss is differential to other forms of hair loss as it is usually very radical. There is a condition known as alopecia that has numerous forms of sudden hair loss. Alopecia areata, is a condition that results in patches of hair loss. Alopecia totalis results in a total hair loss of the scalp, and Alopecia univarsalis is a form of hair loss that occurs all over the body.
Hair loss overall is normal. At any one point ten percent of your hair is not growing. The shedding of the dormant hair is normal in both animals and humans, it is only when shampooing or combing results in large clumps of hair being removed you can call it sudden hair loss. This should be a concern for both human or pet owner and you should therefore look for the cause.
Infection
Most moden men and women of today wash their hair everyday and are therefore not typically subject to hair infections. However, fungal infections are most common in younger children as they are more resistant to washing there hair and are often more exposed to these infections playing outdoors. These fungal infections are treatable and usually result in minimal yet sudden hair loss, however these are very devastating in the mind of the child impacted.
Another form of infection that is most common in the western hemisphere, is that caused by tropical disease or infection. It mainly results in weakening of the hair follicles and there is often sudden hair loss involved. Some cases require the hair to be completely shaved to avoid passing any infection onto others. Shaving the head however in this case can be considered extreme as sometimes the hair is known not to grow back.
Chemotherapy
Unfortunately, today, the most common form of sudden hair loss is due to chemotherapy. The head of hair will generally return once chemotherapy treatment has ceased. This type of sudden hair loss is caused by the reactions of the body to the high levels of toxic chemicals passing through the body that are being used to treat the cancer or lupus. Other forms of sudden hair loss have been documented and can result from the reaction of the thyroid to certain chemicals causing changes in the level of thyroid activity. Sudden hair loss due to a reaction with anti-depressants has been known to occur in some cases.
 |
