Hair Loss Due To Thyroid Disorders
Thyroid disorders cause two types of hair loss. One is the severe but short-lived condition which begins with severe hair loss in the initial stages but which comes under control as the thyroid functioning improves. This type of hair loss condition often does not need any treatment apart from correction of the thyroid imbalance.
The thyroid hormone plays an essential role in the development and maintenance of hair follicles. Follicles are the small pockets under the skin from which hairs grow. Severe or prolonged hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism may result in hair loss. Hair roots usually rotate the work of making hair. We all lose hair on a routine basis, shedding as many as 100 hairs per day across the entire scalp. Normally, these hairs are replaced with time. If you have thyroid disease, however, you may experience hair loss more than others—so much so that your hair on the whole looks to be thinning. Having autoimmune thyroid disease in particular also puts you at greater risk for alopecia areata—excessive and rapid hair loss in specific parts of the scalp that can advance to baldness and also affect other parts of the body, like the eyebrows. Most cases of thyroid-related hair loss are temporary and treatable.
The other more chronic condition seen with thyroid imbalance is the development of Pattern Baldness. People with a pre-existing family history of hair loss are more susceptible. The thyroid disorder triggers the hair loss which then becomes a self perpetuating entity which is also referred in American Academy of Dermatology Association. The hair loss continues unabated even when the thyroid imbalance is corrected. Such cases usually need an early diagnosis and medicinal intervention.
