Diagnosing Stress-Related Hair Loss in Women
Stress
Stress is when the body reacts to a stimulus like pain or fear , which interrupts the physiological balance of the body. Anxiety, pressure, and worry are other kinds of stress. The hair follicles undergo a resting stage because of stress. This will result in a decrease of hair's activity on the scalp. There are three types of hair loss in women due to stress: telogen effluvium, alopecia areata and tri-chotillomania. Howevet, different causes affect the hair loss.
Diagnostic Tests in the Physician's Office
The two tests that the doctors perform in their office are the hair-pull and hair pluck.The hair pull is when the doctor grasps 20 to 30 hairs and kindly pulls on the hair. if more than five hairs come it may mean that the woman is suffering from telogen effluvium. This type is associated with stress.The second type of diagnosis is the hair pluck . The doctor uses a clam to forcefully pluck 20 to 30 hairs. Then the bulbs of the hair are tested under a microscope. The doctor will discover the anagen's ratio of hairs to the telogen's ratio of hairs. The anagen is the growing hairs and the telogen is the resting hairs. The normal result is that 80 percent of the follicles of the hair would be in the growing stage. If there was a less percentage, then it would mean a person may have telogen effluvium. The telogen efflivium appears when there is a disturbance in the normal cycle of the hair. This is due to emotional or physical shock. However, the alopecia areata is less common and it occurs when the immune system of the body, for unknown reasons, attacks the follicles of the hair.
Questions Asked for Diagnosis due to Stress
There are many questions that the doctor asks the patient to know if the hair loss is due to stress. The first thing the doctor need to know is how long the patient has been suffering from hair loss. This is to determine if it is a chronic hair loss. Then the physician needs to know if the hair loss is focused in one area or if it is spread on the scalp.Thirdly, the doctor will check with the patient if there has been a female's history of baldness in the family. This is to know if it is due to heredity and not to stress. Fourthly, he will check if there is a simple reason for the hair loss like daily shampooing or using a new product on the hair. Fifthly, he has to know if there was a severe dieting because malnutrition may cause hair loss.Sixthly he will ask if the patient has a compulsion to pull the hair, and about the patient's medical history. The other questions will be about whether the patient has stress in his life or has any anxiety habits like rubbing the scalp. If the patient suffers from stress due to psychological reasons, it is advisable to check with the doctor. On the other hand, if the patient pulls his own hair or rubs his own scalp, it means the hair follicles are hurt because of nervous behavior which is known as tri-chotillomania
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