Just like any medical treatment, finding the right doctor to perform your hair replacement surgery is important. You must feel comfortable with the physician, as well as his or her staff.  In order to get to know the medical organization you are considering, you will need to participate in a consultation so that you can understand your current hair loss situation, and the doctor will also be able to qualify you
according to the results of the examination.

Here are some of the most common scenarios that you will face during a hair loss treatment examination:

1. The doctor will make an assessment of the current state of your hair loss pattern. He will use standard hair loss charts in order to measure your condition. Two such charts are the Ludwig Scale (this chart is designed for women) and the Hamilton-Norwood Scale (designed for men).

2. The doctor will also take note of the flow, or “character” of your hair loss pattern for further evaluation. Such a report can tell the doctor important information such as: in what direction your hair is thinning towards, whether or not bald patches exist, the texture of the remaining hairs in certain bald spots (thick or thin, straight or curly), and the color of the thinning areas of your hair.

3. You will get a chance to see firsthand exactly what your hair loss will look like in the upcoming years. Doctors consider this a “glimpse into the future” at what the hair loss pattern will look like on your scalp. Sometimes this experience is not the most positive part of the examination for the potential patient. It’s hard enough to know that you are losing your hair in the first place, so seeing the progression that you will undoubtedly face over the next 5 to 10 years can be a bit more disturbing.

You may be wondering why it is important or even necessary for your doctor to give you a preview of your hair loss pattern. But there is a very important reason for this, and that is because every good physician will provide a surgery that is based on the expectation of your natural hair loss as it will occur later in life.

Without this knowledge, you may have a successful surgery today, but because the doctor didn’t properly treat your scalp based on the pattern of hair loss that you will experience, the appearance of your scalp may become unbearable in the future.

It has been established that hair loss can in fact be caused by stress. Before going any further it is important to emphasise that the category of stress which will be referred to in this article is not the type that the majority of people go through in their everyday lives. The category or type of stress responsible for hair loss is some form of emotional shock or a disaster resulting from a serious physical accident.

When the hair loss occurs due to these circumstances it is referred to as ‘ telogen effluvium ‘ (is characterized by sudden, diffuse hair loss caused by an interruption in the normal hair growth cycle). What actually occurs is the actively growing hair follicles are quickly shifted to what is known as the ‘regression phase’. Shortly after this occurs the follicles go into the ‘resting phase’. Once the hair follicle arrives at this resting place it will fall out fairly easily. It

One of the questions often asked is how much time normally elapses between a stressful event occurring and the hair actually beginning to fall out. This can be a period of a few weeks to even a few months after the event. Unfortunately once this begins the hair loss can continue at quite a fast rate.

Because it can be a reasonably long time before the hair loss starts the person may be totally unaware that it is in any way related to a past traumatic experience. The first thoughts are that the hair loss is being caused by some new ailment or something of the sort never for a moment thinking it is associated with a side effect of the previous traumatic experience.

Some examples of the type of severe stress which may cause hair loss follow:

The sudden death of a loved one

Going through a divorce procedure

Taking care of a friend or relative who is suffering from a terminal illness

Major surgery

Heart attack or stroke

Physical injury caused by a vehicle accident

As stated earlier normal everyday stress situations which are experienced at work, financial dealings, personal relationships and the like are not causes for hair loss.

This article was written to answer some of the more basic questions asked on this topic.

It must be said that hair loss is certainly not a problem applicable only to the modern era. The subject of hair loss has certainly been noticed and has in fact been studied down through the ages. Some of the most absorbing and interesting facts and discoveries were in fact made many many years ago and to describe some of them as ancient would certainly not be out of place.

It was noticed that men who were unfortunately castrated as a result of going to war and into battle never suffered from baldness. In support of this it was also observed that males without genitals , that is eunuchs, never suffered with the problem of baldness. These facts began to bring about a realisation that there is a definite connection between hair loss and the male hormone testosterone. It was also established that there is a greater predisposition to baldness if the hair gene is considered recessive.

There is some ongoing debate regarding Caucasian people having a greater disposition to hair loss than non Caucasian or to put it another way, fair or blond haired people having a greater disposition than dark haired people. Having said that there certainly appears to be a broad acceptance that certain dietary factors can stimulate the process. There is an inclination for this to be more readily accepted as this means the process can be controlled through diet.

Androgens were mentioned briefly in a previous article and I believe it would be beneficial at this stage to explain in more detail exactly what they are. Androgens are sex hormones. The main one is testosterone, and it is predominantly produced by males. When the body finds itself in a stressful situation the adrenal glands produce adrenaline which enables the body to react if it considers the situation to be threatening in any way. The adrenal glands also produce androgens. Unfortunately, the stress of daily living in our modern society has brought about an almost constant state of alarm in people, which in turn has created a situation were it is extremely difficult for the body to distinguish between the stress of everyday life and actual threatening situations. The result of all this is that the adrenal glands in the majority of people in the modern world are over active. This in turn results in a constant production of adrenaline and a consequent production of testosterone along with it.

Although it is not generally admitted in the modern world, and in fact, it is probably not known to a lot of people that the consumption of red meat and foods that have a high fat content is too high. This can also cause the adrenal gland to become overactive, and in turn this supports the above situation.