The Covid-19 pandemic has transformed our existence, right down to the depths of our scalp. "The virus has caused an increase in all hair problems
,
"
says Dr Pierre Bouhanna, a specialist in scalp diseases. And this apparently in the four corners of the planet. Several scientific publications, Chinese, Spanish and others, attest to the effect of the epidemic. The severe forms of the infection have been associated with accelerated hair loss. In addition, the stress linked to confinement, loneliness, social difficulties, including for people spared by the coronavirus, would have also contributed to an epidemic of hair loss. Their state also reflects that of our sufferings, deficiencies or illnesses.
We have an average of 100,000 to 150,000 hairs on our head that are renewed cyclically, even if about a hundred of them are found every day on the comb or the brush.
For very different reasons, they can start to fall in handfuls or gradually become sparse.
"Any hair loss that lasts more than three months deserves an investigation," says Dr Bouhanna.
Some causes are recurrent.
You have to know them so as not to be moved by them.
From the change of season to androgenetic alopecia
When the seasons change, in spring and autumn, the hair falls out more; just like in the aftermath or during breastfeeding; or after an infectious disease or a high fever. “A severe diet can trigger diffuse hair loss
,
explains Pierre Bouhanna, but also malnutrition and iron deficiencies
.
Surgery can also lead to reactive alopecia (the learned name for hair loss). All these losses are, in general, reversible and prescriptions, vitamins, essential fatty acids, iron and minerals are generally sufficient to restore luster to the hair in a few weeks.
"The examination by a dermatologist also makes it possible to say whether there will be an almost complete regrowth or if this hair loss is the consequence, for example, of the accentuation of androgenetic alopecia", continues Dr. Bouhanna. Other much rarer diseases, often of autoimmune origin, such as alopecia areata or cicatricial alopecia, can be at the origin of a localized or diffuse disappearance of the hair, with a more uncertain prognosis.
Androgenetic alopecia, a scientific term for the banal baldness that strikes one in two men after 50 years and often even earlier, is irreversible.
It begins at the forehead and temples, before gradually reaching the top of the head.
Women can also be affected, less often and only after menopause.
The earlier the onset, the faster the scalp becomes thinner.
Androgenetic alopecia is the consequence of the particular sensitivity to androgens (male hormones) of the hair follicles.
These hormones accelerate hair renewal, then exhaust it, the hair becomes thin, scarce, the hair follicle disappears.
This alopecia is hereditary.
If your father suffered from it, you will undoubtedly be concerned in your turn.
Against baldness, hair transplants
What solutions exist against this androgenetic baldness? Many hopes placed in certain drugs twenty years ago have been dashed. Minoxidil (a product originally prescribed as an antihypertensive agent), packaged in the form of a lotion, is thought to slow hair loss for only a third of patients. But it does not increase regrowth.
The other molecule intended only for men, finasteride, is now the subject of serious warnings.
It was used initially against an enlarged prostate and it appeared that low doses allowed to limit baldness.
But side effects, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts, erectile dysfunction, decreased libido, recently prompted the Drug Agency to launch an alert after the suicide of patients treated in this way.
"Hair transplants are developing more and more against androgenetic alopecia, for certain forms of cicatricial alopecia or even after radiotherapy of the skull", summarizes Dr Bouhanna.
It is the ultimate solution for people who find it difficult to endure irreversible baldness.
