Thyroid Hair Loss
Hair loss resulting from a thyroid disorder is very common and it does not discriminate between the sexes, being equally prevalent in women as it is in men. One characteristic of hypothyroid hair loss is loss of hair at the outer edges of the eyebrows and it is not unusual to experience hair loss on other parts of the body, not just the head. Thankfully there are a number of treatment options available to you if you are suffering from this condition.
The first step in finding a suitable treatment is to have your doctor give you a check-up to determine exactly where the problem lies. Being patient is very important also, getting stressed out by your condition has the potential to make things worse and any treatment may take a while before results are seen.
Also discuss with your doctor weather or not your current thyroid medication could be contributing to your hair loss. In this case it may be possible to look at an alternative thyroid treatment such as natural methods.
Natural treatments for hyperthyroid hair loss include vitamins, shampoos, lotions and supplements. There are also products such as Rogaine (minoxidil) and concealers such as Toppik that help keep your hair looking thick until your hormone levels return to normal.
Undertreatment of your thyroid condition can also be a cause of thyroid hair loss. Once again your doctor should be able to establish if you are presently being treated correctly. An increasing number of doctors believe that a TSH of around 1 – 2 is optimal for most patients to feel well and not have side effects such as hair loss. Once again your doctor should be able to advise you on this and possibly even look at a combination of thyroid disease drugs.
Another thing to consider is the possibility of other causes and their possible remedies. It has been documented that around 90 percent of women with thinning hair were found to be deficient in iron and the amino acid Lysine and the thinking is that when the lysine and iron levels are low the body switches off some hair follicles to increase the levels elsewhere. Meat, fish and eggs are the only food sources of lysine but there are also supplements that contain lysine.
There are a number of natural ways of dealing with your hair loss and these include Arginine, Cysteine, Green Tea, Polysorbate 80, Progesterone, Saw Palmetto (a very popular remedy), Trichosaccaride and vitamin B6.
Of course there are also drug treatments available although neither of the more popular ones are considered to be safe during pregnancy.
Rogaine seems to be the more popular one for hair loss interferes with DHT’s (dihydrotestosterone – a less useful form of the hormone Testosterone) ability to destroy hair follicles. Rogaine is the brand name for Minoxidil.
The other of the more popular hair loss drugs is Propecia which is the brand name of Finasteride. Propecia is taken in pill form and is not considered to be any more effective than Rogaine and it can take up to a year to see results and to maintain regrowth it must be taken for life.
Finally, if different thyroid treatments or drugs or natural supplements do not alleviate your hair loss problem there are still a couple of options you have, although more ‘drastic’ and usually more expensive.
The first of these is hair transplant surgery. The technology involved in regrowing thinning hair from donor follicles from another area of your head has come forward in leaps and bounds and it is now considered to be quite a successful treatment, although more useful for patches of lost hair rather than general hair thinning.
Hairpieces and falls offer you a natural looking full head of hair that can be styled how you like.
A hair weave should also be considered. This process adds artificial hair to the existing hair and once again can be done with a good degree of success.