Hair Loss Types
It may surprise you to know that there is more than one category of hair loss. Is it possible for your doctor to tell just by looking at your what kind of hair loss you have? The answer is yes, sometimes this is possible.
When it comes to hereditary hair loss patterns, the most common type of hair loss in men, these have developed into a classical clinical descriptive science. Genetic hair loss shows up in distinctive patterns, and these patterns tend to be almost 100% diagnostic for male pattern baldness.
Balding patterns also exist in women and a knowledgeable doctor may well be able to tell just by looking what the cause of the hair loss is. A small number of people will lose scalp hair in a uniform (diffuse) way, rather than by losing it in specific areas of the scalp. This type of hair loss is not just as easy to detect as the hair is lost steadily from all over the head. It is generally easier to detect a bald spot resulting from hair loss in a specific area of the scalp from diseases which can cause uniform hair loss to the normal genetics of a particular person.
Hair loss occurs naturally and this will usually be at the end of one of the normal hair cycles which all hair goes through. The hair cycles are as follows:
- Anagen – this is the growth stage, which lasts three years on average, but could also be as short as a year or as long as seven years.
- Catogen – this stage is where the hair prepares to go into the next phase and therefore undergoes changes in its anatomy, and falls out at the end of this stage of the cycle.
- Telogen – this is the sleep stage when a percentage of the hair disappears – lasts between two and five months on average – approximately 10% of all the hairs on our heads are in the telogen part of the cycle at any one time.
At the end of the telogen stage, a new hair bud appears, and this signals the beginning of the anagen stage, as so the circle continues.
Find out more about the common hair loss causes.
