Understanding Telogen Effluvium, A Sudden Hair Loss Condition
Are you noticing that your hair recently has thinned quite a lot? Or you are facing an increased hair count in your sink and bed sheets? What you might be facing is a sudden hair loss condition.
There are many types of sudden hair loss situations ranging from autoimmune disorder, scalp infection or a more common stress related condition known as Telogen Effluvium.
Telogen Effluvium represents a sudden outflow of Telogen hairs more than normal daily hair loss.
To understand this condition better, it's important to know about your hair growth cycle.
Every hair follicle has a growth cycle where it grows, dies and sheds off.
Your hair follicles will then grow new hairs back again replacing the shed ones.
A single hair follicle can produce around 20 new hairs that each can last for 5-7 years.
The 3 Phases of the Hair Growth Cycle ANAGEN - This is the growing phase of your hair and the longest phase in the cycle.
In the ANAGEN phase, your hair keeps growing at a pace of around half an inch a month and can last for 2-8 years depending on your hair condition.
Your hair will be strong and healthy at this phase and won't fall off easily.
CATAGEN - A short transitional phase that will last for a 2-4 weeks.
This is the time the hair will stop growing and disconnects from the blood supply.
Your hair will start to shrink from its original size during this phase.
A new hair will be produced at the bottom by your hair follicles.
TELOGEN - The last phase of your hair and lasts about 3 months before it falls off.
During this time, it's really weak and it can easily dislodged from your scalp with just some friction or pulling.
At any one time 10% of your hair follicles are in this phase so it's common to lose 50-100 hairs a day.
How Telogen Effluvium Happens Telogen Effluvium is mainly caused by a stressful event, either psychically or mentally.
When you are under tremendous stress, your body can go off balance and shut down its nutrient and energy supplies to your hair follicles.
This will cause your hair follicles to prematurely stop growing and turning Anagen hairs into Telogen hairs.
The amount of hairs suddenly switched to the Telogen phase will depend on the amount of stress you received and how well your body handles it.
Some of the most common reasons of stress are usually related to abnormal events in your life like accidents, bad news, work related stress, frequent travelling, jet lag, crash dieting and many other events that can deliver a shock to your body.
Whatever the events are, in order to face this condition, there must be a trigger for the shock.
After the period of shock where your hair follicles are pushed to the Telogen phase, you will not see the hair loss immediately.
As Telogen hairs will fall off after 3-4 months, you will notice an increased hair shedding after the period of shock.
So if you notice a lot more hair loss than normal and your hairs are easily dislodged by some light friction, you might be facing Telogen Effluvium.
There is No Cure for Telogen Effluvium Generally there are 2 types of Telogen Effluvium known as Acute and Chronic.
Acute Telogen Effluvium usually happens out of a sudden with massive hair loss 3-4 months after the triggered event.
Chronic Telogen Effluvium is different as it's a continuous condition where your hair will slowly thin out.
This condition occurs when you are facing nonstop stress for a period of time.
For chronic cases, the most common triggers are suffering from an illness or taking medications that can cause hair loss.
There is no cure for both cases of Telogen Effluvium as it's caused by triggers that you cannot prevent.
So the only way to stop Telogen Effluvium is to remove and prevent triggers that can cause tremendous stress to you.
If there are medications that you are taking that you suspect are the cause of hair loss, stop or talk to your doctor about it.
In most cases, your hair will grow back after a few months when your body returns to normal.
You can also try taking some vitamin B complex supplements and minoxidil to accelerate your hair growth.
In the meantime, staying stress free and happy are the best possible solutions to prevent Telogen Effluvium.
If you want to know more about Telogen Effluvium and ways to prevent it, you can read more about it here.
There are many types of sudden hair loss situations ranging from autoimmune disorder, scalp infection or a more common stress related condition known as Telogen Effluvium.
Telogen Effluvium represents a sudden outflow of Telogen hairs more than normal daily hair loss.
To understand this condition better, it's important to know about your hair growth cycle.
Every hair follicle has a growth cycle where it grows, dies and sheds off.
Your hair follicles will then grow new hairs back again replacing the shed ones.
A single hair follicle can produce around 20 new hairs that each can last for 5-7 years.
The 3 Phases of the Hair Growth Cycle ANAGEN - This is the growing phase of your hair and the longest phase in the cycle.
In the ANAGEN phase, your hair keeps growing at a pace of around half an inch a month and can last for 2-8 years depending on your hair condition.
Your hair will be strong and healthy at this phase and won't fall off easily.
CATAGEN - A short transitional phase that will last for a 2-4 weeks.
This is the time the hair will stop growing and disconnects from the blood supply.
Your hair will start to shrink from its original size during this phase.
A new hair will be produced at the bottom by your hair follicles.
TELOGEN - The last phase of your hair and lasts about 3 months before it falls off.
During this time, it's really weak and it can easily dislodged from your scalp with just some friction or pulling.
At any one time 10% of your hair follicles are in this phase so it's common to lose 50-100 hairs a day.
How Telogen Effluvium Happens Telogen Effluvium is mainly caused by a stressful event, either psychically or mentally.
When you are under tremendous stress, your body can go off balance and shut down its nutrient and energy supplies to your hair follicles.
This will cause your hair follicles to prematurely stop growing and turning Anagen hairs into Telogen hairs.
The amount of hairs suddenly switched to the Telogen phase will depend on the amount of stress you received and how well your body handles it.
Some of the most common reasons of stress are usually related to abnormal events in your life like accidents, bad news, work related stress, frequent travelling, jet lag, crash dieting and many other events that can deliver a shock to your body.
Whatever the events are, in order to face this condition, there must be a trigger for the shock.
After the period of shock where your hair follicles are pushed to the Telogen phase, you will not see the hair loss immediately.
As Telogen hairs will fall off after 3-4 months, you will notice an increased hair shedding after the period of shock.
So if you notice a lot more hair loss than normal and your hairs are easily dislodged by some light friction, you might be facing Telogen Effluvium.
There is No Cure for Telogen Effluvium Generally there are 2 types of Telogen Effluvium known as Acute and Chronic.
Acute Telogen Effluvium usually happens out of a sudden with massive hair loss 3-4 months after the triggered event.
Chronic Telogen Effluvium is different as it's a continuous condition where your hair will slowly thin out.
This condition occurs when you are facing nonstop stress for a period of time.
For chronic cases, the most common triggers are suffering from an illness or taking medications that can cause hair loss.
There is no cure for both cases of Telogen Effluvium as it's caused by triggers that you cannot prevent.
So the only way to stop Telogen Effluvium is to remove and prevent triggers that can cause tremendous stress to you.
If there are medications that you are taking that you suspect are the cause of hair loss, stop or talk to your doctor about it.
In most cases, your hair will grow back after a few months when your body returns to normal.
You can also try taking some vitamin B complex supplements and minoxidil to accelerate your hair growth.
In the meantime, staying stress free and happy are the best possible solutions to prevent Telogen Effluvium.
If you want to know more about Telogen Effluvium and ways to prevent it, you can read more about it here.