Skip to main content

Addressing Hair Loss Early Is Key to Success

If you’re losing your hair, you may be desperate to stop the endless shedding of strands. Hair loss — also known as alopecia — may occur for a number of reasons, including autoimmune disorders that cause your body to attack your hair follicles. However, hair loss isn’t inevitable, nor is it necessarily irreversible.

The expert dermatologists at Specialists in Dermatology diagnose and treat hair loss at their Houston, Texas, and Woodlands, Texas offices. They encourage you to get an evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment recommendations as early as possible to halt or even reverse your hair loss.

Long-term hair loss may be irreversible

Your hair grows in channels on your scalp called follicles. A follicle is where the hair is “born” and housed as it grows. Your hair grows in stages. At the end of the cycle, the hair sheds. However, a new hair is then created in the shaft. 

When you lose your hair because of hormonal changes or an autoimmune condition, however, the follicle doesn’t grow another hair. A follicle that isn’t producing and housing hairs regularly eventually dries out and cannot be revived.

Early treatment of hair loss can restore the structural integrity and functionality of the follicle. Healthy follicles can then regrow hairs within a year.

Diagnosing hair loss is the first step

Trying to reverse hair loss on your own could lead you down a false path and cause you to lose time. For instance, vitamins and topical therapies won’t do any good if your hair loss is the result of abnormalities in hair shafts or by an underlying autoimmune condition. 

During your hair loss consultation, we take a personal medical history as well as a family history to determine all of the factors involved in your hair loss. We may also take scalp and hair samples. Common causes of hair loss are:

Your dermatologist gets to the root of your hair loss problem before prescribing appropriate treatments or lifestyle adjustments. We may need to test your blood to rule out potential causes for stress- and trauma-related telogen effluvium, which causes your hair to go into a resting state rather than a growth stage.

Early treatment regrows hair

Once your dermatologist diagnoses the reasons for your hair loss, they help you regrow your hair whenever possible. Medical treatments include:

Topical minoxidil

Both women and men with hair loss may benefit from this topical treatment that regrows hair. You must apply it twice a day for life to maintain your new hair growth. 

Oral spironolactone

Women with female pattern baldness may benefit from oral spironolactone. Spironolactone blocks the production of excess androgens, such as testosterone, that causes the hair loss.

Oral finasteride 

Men with male pattern baldness. You must take a pill by mouth daily for life. Its effectiveness lessens with age and may not work in men over 60 years. Finasteride is not appropriate for women. 

Steroids and immunomodulators 

If you have the autoimmune condition called alopecia areata, your immune system erroneously attacks health hair follicles. Steroids and immunomodulators can quiet the attacks and subdue the inflammation that damages hair follicles. 

Contact Specialists in Dermatology in Houston, Texas, or The Woodlands, Texas, to find out why you’re suffering from hair loss. Call us, or fill out our convenient online scheduling form so that you can start regrowing your hair with treatment today.

You Might Also Enjoy...

Who's a Candidate for a Chemical Peel?

When your skin’s lost its glow or satiny texture, a chemical peel reveals fresh, vibrant skin underneath. If you’re a candidate for a chemical peel, it’s an easy, relaxing way to renew your skin without surgery or lasers. Here’s how it works.
How to Get Rid of a Bothersome Facial Scar

How to Get Rid of a Bothersome Facial Scar

A well-placed facial scar can make you look fierce and interesting, but perhaps that isn’t the look you desire. Scars remind you of past injuries and sometimes trigger embarrassing questions, too. Here’s how to put your scar behind you.

Does Melanoma Always Appear as an Atypical Mole?

You know your ABCDEs by heart, and you use them each month when you examine your skin. If you notice changes in a mole, you go straight to your dermatologist for a skin cancer evaluation. But does deadly melanoma always appear as a mole?

Why You Shouldn't Remove a Wart on Your Own

You hate the way your wart looks and want to get rid of it as soon as possible. You’re tempted to pick it, squeeze it, cut it, or burn it off yourself. Don’t. The end result could be an infection and even more warts. Everywhere.
4 Chronic Conditions That Cause Dry, Flaky Skin

4 Chronic Conditions That Cause Dry, Flaky Skin

When you have dry skin, it may not just be because of the winter winds or indoor heating. You may have an underlying, chronic condition that causes your skin to be dry, flaky, and uncomfortable, no matter the season or the weather.