Diffuse alopecia: issues of diagnosis

How a doctor can quickly and timely establish the correct diagnosis and provide assistance to a patient

2023-11-07

There is no doubt that hair loss is an acute problem related to hair. The disease has different forms and can be caused by different reasons. And the success of the treatment depends on how quickly it is possible to find and eliminate the cause that provoked hair loss.

During a person's life, 20-30 renewal cycles of each follicle occur. From 35 to 180 telogen hairs fall out per day, and its total number is 75-150 thousand. The cyclical activity of hair growth has a mosaic character, while each follicle has an individual mechanism for controlling the phases of the hair growth cycle. An increase in the percentage in the telogen phase of more than 20% leads to an increase in pathological hair loss with a club-shaped bulb.

Diffuse alopecia is an excessive loss of normal hair over the entire scalp with extensive involvement of the parietal, temporal, and frontal hair growth lines, but without involvement of the nail plates, eyebrows, and eyelashes. This condition reflects a violation of the hair cycle. In the language of a trichologist, this is the premature transition of hair follicles from the anagen stage to the catagen stage and then to telogen. At the same time, anxiety, fear, and a sense of hopelessness in patients intensify and "heat" the indicated condition. However, the main thing is that we have to remember that this process is reversible with the right and correct treatment.

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