Losing hair

One reason for losing hair is that it may run in your family. Male pattern baldness is usually hereditary.

This doesn’t mean you have to lose a lot of hair just because your mum or dad does – heredity can skip a few generations.

Regardless, hereditary hair loss is a natural process but there are very good possibilities for treatment if it is started in time.

If you’ve been under a lot of stress for a long time, have symptoms of exhaustion, or have been through physical or psychological trauma, your body often reacts by shutting down hair production.

However, it is difficult to make the connection yourself to the stressful period. Up to 6 months after the hair has gone into dormancy, it falls off and you can experience severe hair loss in a short time.

Some severe fevers or infections can trigger hair loss. These are classified as a physical stress on the body and affect hair growth several months after.

There are also hair diseases that have a direct impact on the hair. The most well-known is alopecia areata (patchy hair loss) but there are many others.

What substance do you lack if your hair falls out? The most common vitamin and mineral deficiencies people have are iron deficiency (anaemia), which affects the skin and hair.

Iron deficiency is more common in women but also occurs in men in some cases. If iron deficiency is suspected, we can check it at the clinic and you will get an answer within a few days.

Some medications affect hair growth and can cause you to lose a lot of hair. For example, cancer drugs have a strong effect on hair growth.

Some cancer treatments wipe out everything in the body because they can’t distinguish between cancer cells and healthy cells well enough. Other medications that can cause hair loss include certain types of antibiotics, antidepressants and acne medications that contain vitamin A.