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Author:
Jerry H. Hall

An average human scalp contains about 100,000 hairs. Even when most of these hairs remain healthy, it is little consolation to the child with hair loss.

Hair loss or alopecia can be caused by fungal infections, inflammatory conditions, trauma, or as a side effect to some medical conditions (like hypothyroidism) or their treatments (chemotherapy for childhood cancers).

Hair loss in children is much more common than most people suspect. It is estimated that hair loss is responsible for 3% of all pediatric office visits. The list of all the possible causes for hair loss is exceedingly long. Thankfully, the great majority of children who lose their hair do so from one of four causes -- all of which usually resolve with the appropriate treatment.

Telogen effluvium, the other common cause of hair loss in children, affects children and adults. It is responsible for more hair loss than any other cause except male-pattern baldness. To understand telogen effluvium, one must understand a hair's normal life-cycle. An individual hair follicle has a long growth phase, producing steadily growing hair for 2 to 6 years (on average 3 years). This is followed by a brief transitional phase (about 3 weeks) when the hair follicle degenerates. This in turn is followed by a resting phase (about 3 months) when the hair follicle lies dormant. This last phase is called the telogen phase. Following the telogen phase, the growth phase begins again -- new hairs grow and push out the old hair shafts. The whole cycle repeats.

For children with cancer, the loss of hair can be important and traumatic -- and for others, especially very young children, this loss can be relatively unimportant. For teenagers, hair loss can be devastating, and you will need to do everything you can to help your teen find a satisfactory way to cope with this problem. Your child will need to know if hair loss is likely to occur because of his or her treatment, and you will need to make plans to cope with this in ways that make your child most comfortable.

The good news is that there are a number of ways your child can consider in covering his or her head.

About the Author :

Jerry H.Hall has an interest in Hair related subjects. If you are interesting in finding out more information on how to maintain your crowning glory, please visit this successful Thinning Hair site: http://ThinningHair.smartreviewguide.com


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A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Hair Loss... Hair Loss - The Top 7 Causes and What You Can Do About It Hair loss is always something people do not want to deal with. Perhaps seeing extra hair in the shower or on the brush is what alerted them to their hair loss. Or, maybe a friend or family member has made a comment as to how thin the individual's hair has become. Regardless of how it came to be noticed, hair loss means something. Here are a few things to look into regarding why hair loss happens and if there is something that can be done about it. 1. Medicines are often a large cause of hair loss. Such medicines as blood thinners, birth control pills, and antidepressants can cause hair loss. Chemotherapy drugs, gout drugs, and even high doses of vitamin A can cause it. To stop the hair loss, the drugs must be stopped. Usually normal hair growth will return at this point. 2. Hormones are a large cause of hair loss as well. Often this will be due to the over-activity or the under-activity of the thyroid gland. This creates an imbalance of such hormones as androgens and estrogens and leads to hair loss. Treatments for thyroid disease often fix this problem and hair loss stops. 3. Pregnancy. Often times, the levels of hormones in the pregnant women's body are so high that they do not allow the normal growth cycle of hair to continue. This means that during pregnancy, women lose less hair. About 3 months after pregnancy, though, many women experience high levels of hair loss that is just the hair that never fell out during pregnancy. Hair loss will soon stop and regular hair cycles will begin again. 4. Illness and Surgery. Often times, 3 or 4 months after a major illness or surgery, people will experience hair loss. This is due to the stress that the body was under. It is usually temporary. 5. Infection. Fungal infections of the scalp are also a cause of hair loss....