How To Treat Hair Loss From Diabetes
If you’re a diabetic affected by hair loss, the first step to finding a solution is determining what type of hair loss you have. It may well be that the loss is temporary: a reaction to the strain that untreated diabetes can put on the body. If this is the case, you’re probably dealing with diffuse hair loss or telogen effluvium. In both cases, hair should regrow naturally once you begin to control your diabetes through insulin injections or medication. You Are What You Eat There are other causes of hair loss linked to diabetes that could be an issue here, too. For instance, diabetes can affect your circulatory system, making it less effective. As certain nutrients and proteins are essential for hair growth, a decrease in the amount of these reaching hair follicles could result in weaker and slower hair growth. A simple way to remedy this is to start taking a nutritional supplement which does not have a sugar coating. This will ensure the body is getting a consistent level of nutrients in case diet alone does not provide a sufficient amount. If you’re feeling unwell or have other unexplained symptoms alongside your hair loss, you may be suffering from an infection, as diabetes can affect your immune system when the blood contains excess sugar. An infection can disrupt the hair growth cycle, causing hairs to go into their resting phase prematurely, leaving you with weaker hair. In It For The Long Haul If your diabetes is under control and you’re still losing more hair than usual, it could be that you’re experiencing pattern baldness. This condition is a result of genetics, and is not caused by diabetes, and as such it cannot be ‘cured,’ and requires treatment to prevent increased hair loss. It might be that diabetes related hair loss has masked the onset of Continue reading >>
The Relation Between Hair Loss And Diabetes
Diabetes is a curse of the modern society rich with stress, worries, sedentary lifestyle and fast food. Often this disease can be connected with hair thinning fragile hair, unhealthy locks and severe balding. People who suffer from it are more prone than the rest of the general population to damage of the nerves, heart, other body organs and blood vessels. Yes, blood vessels, in fact, you should know that diabetes negatively affects our body’s circulatory system. In this way the less amount of nutrients and oxygen reach the upper and the lower extremities of the body, like the feet and the scalp areas. Diabetes can trigger hair loss, decreasing the micro blood circulation If diabetes is causing poor blood circulation to the scalp, the hair follicles will progressively shrink resulting in baldness. Poor circulation may prevent further and normal hair growth. So diabetes not only causes the loss of your existing locks, but it also prevents the growth of new hair. It also can bring about hormonal imbalance in the human body, and such hormonal changes may be manifested through hair thinning. In fact, this also explains the reason behind hair loss after delivery and menopause Drugs which are used to treat diabetes may also lead to baldness and if you feel this is your case, consult your doc to get your prescription modified. This bad disease may weaken your immune system, making it susceptible to other illnesses such as skin rashes and thyroid dysfunctions. Diabetes may also cause high levels of oxidative stress, hence causing “old hair”. How has diabetes influenced your hair in terms of growth or loss? Have you noticed any changes in the condition of your hair since you have been diagnosed as being suffering from diabetes? Changes such as progressive loss of hair, eve Continue reading >>
Diabetes & Hair Loss: What You Need To Know
Diabetes is a lifelong condition in which the body’s blood sugar levels are too high. Worldwide, 371 million people have diabetes, and that figure is expected to grow to 552 million by 2030. There are two types of diabetes – type 1 and type 2 – with different causes, symptoms, and treatment methods, but one symptom both types share is hair loss. When there is a thickening of blood vessel walls the blood vessels narrow. This can occur in blood vessels all over your body, including your skin. Narrow blood vessels mean less oxygen, which causes symptoms like hair loss as well as shiny skin and thickened skin. Hair loss is not limited to head. With circulatory impairment, you can often see hair loss on your legs, eyebrows, your arms and even your eyelashes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. Abnormal functioning of the immune system causes it to produce white blood cells that attack the body’s own tissues. Because hair loss occurs in many autoimmune disorders, it is thought that when white blood cells attack growing cells in the hair follicles, the follicle cells become small and hair production slows. High blood sugar levels can also damage small blood vessels in the body over time. Especially in untreated type 2 diabetes, the scalp’s blood vessels may get damaged, meaning less oxygen and nutrients reach the hair follicles. This can result in hair thinning and halt new hair production, so strands may not grow back once they fall out. So what can you do? Here are five simple tips to keep your hair healthy with diabetes. Nourish It Keeping your hair nourished goes beyond good hair products. It’s more about what you eat! Eating healthy foods like a bunch of veggies, fruits, and healthy grains which is key for awesome looking hair. With a proper diet your ha Continue reading >>
Stop And Reverse High Blood Sugar Related Hair Loss
9 Parts: ...More Sugar-related hair loss results in androgenic alopecia in both men and women. In men, it's usually referred to as Male Pattern Baldness. Usually this type of balding begins with the thinning of hair at the crown or at the front of the hairline. In women, it tends to be an overall thinning of the hair. Sugar related hair loss is based on the two following scientific premises: Since the year 2000, several studies conducted in Finland, Taiwan, Mexico and Turkey, have confirmed that eating too much sugar causes hair loss. This means that you should avoid eating sugar of all kinds including white sugar, cane sugar, golden sugar, brown sugar, agave syrup, corn syrup and any type of product made from glucose, sucrose, dextrose or fructose. You should avoid eating foods that are converted rapidly into sugar once they are consumed. These are known as high glycemic foods. They cause sugar in the bloodstream to rapidly elevate, which forces your pancreas to produce excess insulin, which in turn throws most of the systems in your body out of whack. This includes the endocrine system, which produces the hormones that determine the rate of hair loss. Research has found that hair loss occurs with the consumption of sugar because: Hair is made of protein and there is no protein in sugar to nourish your hair follicles or hair shaft. Individuals who consume too much sugar do not have as much control of the way their body produces DHT, a hormone that causes balding, or the way it prevents balding. There are many symptoms and physical conditions that can indicate sugar-related hair loss. Symptoms that affect your hair and scalp include: Hair falling out in the androgenic alopecia pattern that usually begins with hair thinning at the top of the head, the crown or along the Continue reading >>
Why Does Diabetes Cause Hair To Fall Out?
One way in which diabetes can cause hair loss is a result of the effects of high blood sugar on the circulatory system. Diabetics typically have higher than normal blood sugar levels. High blood sugar can chemically react with red blood cells, creating a product known as glycosylated hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is an important protein in red blood cells and this modified version causes red blood cells to be misshapen. These misshapen red blood cells are not as flexible and can get stuck when trying to enter small blood vessels (called capillaries), leading to circulation problems. If this occurs in the capillaries that supply blood to the hair follicles, these follicles may die, leading to hair loss. Endocrine Abnormalities Another way in which diabetes can cause hair loss is by disrupting the endocrine system. The endocrine system is comprised of many hormones that control different tissues in the body. For example, the endocrine system secretes androgens, which govern hair growth and the health of hair follicles. Uncontrolled diabetes (and the resulting high blood sugar) causes the endocrine system to become disrupted. This can lead to androgen abnormalities, which can cause the hair follicles to go dormant. As a result, the shafts of the hair fall out, which can lead to widespread hair loss. Fortunately, if the diabetes is controlled (through diet and medication), the hormone levels can become stabilized, allowing the hair to grow back. Diabetes can also have an indirect effect on hair loss as a result of autoimmune disorders. Autoimmune disorders occur when the immune system accidentally attacks healthy tissue because it misidentifies the tissue as foreign. This can be one cause of diabetes, because the immune system can attack insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, le Continue reading >>
Diabetes Hair Loss
There is a definite connection between diabetes and hair loss. Some women are not even aware that they have the condition and a loss of hair can be one of the first signs. On this page I'll take a look at the symptoms of diabetes, why it causes hair loss, and what to do if it's affecting you. NOTE: This information is provided for guidance purposes only and should not be seen as medical advice. You should always discuss ANY concerns about your health with a qualified medical professional. Could Your Hair Loss Be a Sign of Diabetes? According to recent statistics, 24% of diabetes cases go undiagnosed. Data from the National Diabetes Statistics Report 2014 shows that there are 29.1 million Americans with diabetes - but only 21 million people are aware of it. There are lots of different reasons that diabetes causes hair loss, which I will cover later in this article. But it's also worth knowing that thinning hair can also indicate two other related conditions - insulin resistance pre-diabetes Insulin resistance is a precursor to pre-diabetes and BOTH conditions are precursors to type 2 diabetes. More About Insulin Resistance and Pre-Diabetes When insulin levels in the body remain sufficiently high over an extended period of time, the body's sensitivity to the hormone begins to decline. This is called insulin resistance. A difficult condition to reverse, insulin resistance causes symptoms that include high blood pressure, lethargy and hunger. It's a 'vicious circle', because the increased insulin levels and weight gain make the insulin resistance even worse. Eventually it can develop into pre-diabetes, which doctors can identify by increased glucose levels in the blood. Research supports the fact that women with insulin resistance are at risk of hair loss - so it's certainl Continue reading >>
Will Hair Loss Due To Uncontrolled Diabetes Grow Back?
Question Originally asked by Community Member mo Will Hair Loss Due To Uncontrolled Diabetes Grow Back? I have noticeably thinning hair due to my uncontrolled diabetes. Once I manage my diabetes is there hope for my hair to come back, or will it stay this thin? Answer Hi Mo. I’m sorry to hear about your thin hair and your uncontrolled diabetes. I hope you’re able to get it under control, because if you’re losing hair imagine what damage it’s causing on the inside, where you can’t see the effects! Uncontrolled blood sugar can lead to thinning hair, and many people who get their condition under control and maintain a healthy diet find that their hair does grow back. Check out MyDiabetesCentral.com and feel free to ask others about their experiences with hair loss. Good luck! You should know Answers to your question are meant to provide general health information but should not replace medical advice you receive from a doctor. No answers should be viewed as a diagnosis or recommended treatment for a condition. Continue reading >>
Hair Loss Due To Type 2 Diabetes?
Diabetes Forum The Global Diabetes Community Find support, ask questions and share your experiences. Join the community I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Sept 2004. My hair was thick back then, but over the past 6 months, every time I brush my hair, there's a lot of hairs in the brush. Has anyone else experienced hair loss dur to their Diabetes? Should I tell my doctor about the hair loss at my next appointment? Just for the record, I'm 54 yrs old. Only one member of my immediate family experienced hair loss, but he did so over a 40 yr span. Interesting .. I noticed that my hair was thinning around about the time I was diagnosed with type 2, it got really bad for a while. I thought at the time it was stress related, and my hair dresser suggested vitamin B supplements. I understand that metformin can block the absorbtion of nutrients so now I take a multivitamin with B vits in it every day along with my meds. I have no idea whether its because I have better control over my BG or whether its because I take the multi vit but slowly, slowly my hair has got thicker. Mine regained some of its curl after diagnosis but no thinning. Thyroid problems seem to be a risk factor for T2 diabetics and that can cause hair thinning - might be worth have TSH / T3 and T4 levels checked at your next blood test are you on a statin these can cause hair loss. Metformin can cause hair loss, so can statins, so can some BP meds (eg Lisinopril), so can an under-active thyroid. GPs tend to be most unsympathetic. Zinc is supposed to help with hair and nails, as is the Vit B group. I'm starting a new fashion for baldness in women. Anyone remember the Deltan officer in "Star Trek - The Movie"? She was gorgeous! And about 40 years younger than me :crazy: :wink: Nor was the right-hand side of her fa Continue reading >>
Does Diabetes Cause Hair Loss?
What diabetes can do to your body If you have diabetes, your body doesn’t produce insulin, doesn’t use it effectively, or both. Insulin is a hormone that moves the sugar from the foods you eat from your bloodstream into your cells to be stored or used as energy. When you don’t have insulin or it isn’t used effectively, sugar can build up in your blood. That excess sugar can damage organs all over your body, including your eyes, nerves, and kidneys. It can also damage your blood vessels. These vessels carry oxygen around your body to nourish organs and tissues. Damaged blood vessels may not be able to deliver enough oxygen to nourish your hair follicles. This lack of oxygen can affect your normal hair growth cycle. Hair usually goes through three phases. During the active growing phase, which lasts for two years or more, hairs grow at a rate of 1 to 2 cm per month. Hair then goes into a resting phase, which lasts for about 100 days. After this phase, some of the resting hair falls out. Diabetes can interrupt this process, slowing down your hair growth. Having diabetes can also cause you to lose more hair than usual. That hair loss isn’t only on your head. You can lose hairs on your arms, legs, and other body parts, too. When hair regrows, it does so at a slower-than-normal rate. People with diabetes are more likely to have a condition called alopecia areata. With alopecia, the immune system attacks the hair follicles, leading to patches of hair loss on the head and on other parts of the body. Diabetes itself can lead to hair loss. You may also lose hair as a side effect of stress from living with a chronic illness, or from medicines you take to treat your diabetes. Some people with diabetes also have thyroid disease, which can contribute to hair loss. Speak wit Continue reading >>
The Best Foods You Can Eat For Healthy Hair
When hair looks limp, dull and lifeless, people often turn to new shampoos and conditioners for that extra oomph. But really, a poor diet could be the culprit for lackluster locks. “[Lifeless hair] is usually coming from the inside out,” says Michael Stranko, a hair stylist at Hair Designs by Karen Greb in Pittsburgh. Stranko notices that when a client’s hair changes, many times diet is to blame. One woman was on a doctor-ordered, low-fat diet and even two month after it ended, the stylist saw a difference. “Her hair turned very thin, very brittle, and there was no life to it. When you aren't getting a proper nutrition it … comes out through the hair,” Stranko says. Though there is a limited amount of science to back up Stranko's observation, eating protein and certain fats is said to help give you lustrous hair. “If you don’t have enough protein, you can end up having hair that is dry and thinner. Protein is the building block for ... keratin,” says Dr. Debra Wattenberg, a New York City dermatologist at NY Skin Rx. Meat, fish, beans, and soy will arm the body to make keratin, a fibrous protein that builds hair and nails. While omega-3 fats, found in fish, walnuts and flaxseed, help make hair shine. “Essential fatty acids are really important,” says Dr. Apple Bodemer, an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “People who are on really, really low fat diets [have] hair breaking and hair falling out.” Also important to healthy hair: vitamin D, zinc, and iron. Iron helps red blood cells carry oxygen and nutrients to the hair follicle and zinc works as a co-enzyme, helping to create the hair structure. Less is known about the role of vitamin D, but experts suspect it helps with the gr Continue reading >>
Faqs: How Does Diabetes Affect My Hair Growth?
Diabetes is a lifelong condition in which the body's blood sugar levels are too high. Worldwide, 371 million people have diabetes, and that figure is expected to grow to 552 million by 2030. There are two types of diabetes - type 1 and type 2 - with different causes, symptoms, and treatment methods, but one symptom both types share is hair loss. What's The Difference between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes? Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease diagnosed primarily in those under 40 - usually children and young adults - where the pancreas gland does not produce any insulin. Insulin is the hormone that controls blood glucose levels, and without it, glucose levels can become too high or too low, which damages the body's organs, blood vessels, and nerves, and if it goes without proper treatment, it can result in a coma or death. However, type 1 diabetes can be managed with insulin injections and close attention to blood sugar levels, although it cannot be completely cured. Type 2 diabetes typically occurs later in life, when the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to control glucose levels, or body cells become resistant to insulin. Unlike type 1, it can be triggered by obesity, when excess abdominal fat releases chemicals that disrupt the body's metabolic and cardiovascular systems. 90% of all diabetes cases are type 2, and the condition is usually managed - and sometimes reversed - with a healthy diet and tablets; insulin injections are normally unnecessary. Unlike type 1 diabetes, which cannot be prevented, type 2 diabetes can generally be prevented by maintaining a healthy weight and eating a healthy diet. How Does Diabetes Cause Hair Loss? While researchers are unsure precisely how diabetes leads to hair loss, there are two likely causes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimm Continue reading >>
Does Taking Insulin Cause Hair Loss?
There are many causes for both male and female hair loss, including heredity, diet and illness. Could taking prescription insulin be one more cause? How Hair Grows Hair grows from roots, or follicles, located beneath the skin. Individual hairs can last for several years. During that time each hair passes through four phases: anagen, catagen, telogen and exogen. Anagen is the phase during which growth of each hair takes place. It can last between two and seven years. Length of hair is determined by the amount of growth during this phase. Catagen is a transitional phase. It lasts about ten days, during which time the hair follicle shrinks and detaches from the dermal papilla (cells that pass from the dermis into the epidermis layer of the skin, carrying nerve endings and blood flow.) Telogen is the resting phase. It lasts about three months. During this time, new hair begins its anagen phase. At any given time 10 to 15 percent of hair is in the resting phase. Exogen is the end of the resting phase, when as many as 50 to 150 old hairs are shed each day, making room for the new hair in the anagen phase. Causes of Hair Loss Heredity is perhaps the largest cause of hair loss. Hereditary-pattern baldness causes thinning hair in its early stages and loss of hair as the subject ages. The cause is a combination of genetics, hormonal changes and aging. Serious illness or trauma can also cause loss of hair. Physical stress is a factor in the loss of hair for many women, particularly loss after childbirth, surgery or trauma. This type of hair loss is usually self-limiting, with regrowth occurring after healing from the physical cause. Diabetes can contribute to hair loss in a couple of ways. Uncontrolled diabetes stresses the body, impacting the immune system, disrupting hormonal le Continue reading >>
Diabetes Hair Loss: Why It Happens And What You Can Do
Diabetes hair loss is not a new concept. Diabetes can have many adverse affects on the body, including hair loss or thinning hair. The majority of the time the hair loss grows back, though in some instances it may be permanent. This can be scary and extremely distressing, both for men and women. We value our hair, as it is closely tied to our identity and our personal style. You can’t deny that feeling of awesomeness when you first walk out of the salon or barber shop after a fresh new cut. Luckily, diabetes hair loss can be controlled and treated with the right methods. Let’s take a deeper look into the root causes and what you can do about it. The Role of Insulin in Diabetes Hair Loss Insulin is a hormone created in the pancreas that allows your body to utilize glucose (sugar) from carbohydrates. The insulin moves those sugars from the bloodstream to the cells, where they are either used as energy or stored for later use. If you have diabetes, either your body doesn’t produce this vital hormone (Type 1 diabetes), it doesn’t use it effectively (Type 2 diabetes), or both. This can result in a buildup of sugar in the bloodstream. This excess sugar can cause a variety of problems including: Damaging the body’s organs including the eyes, nerves and kidneys. Damaging the blood vessels, which may prevent them from delivering enough oxygen to nourish organs and tissues, including hair follicles. Both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes can cause hair loss. Why Does Diabetes Cause Hair Loss? Diabetes hair loss is very complex and reasons for it are diverse. This makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly what might be causing your hair loss. Let’s discuss some of the potential culprits. Hormonal Imbalance Uncontrolled diabetes can cause a disruption of your body’s hormones. H Continue reading >>
Help — I’m Losing My Hair!
When I was younger, everyone wanted Farrah Fawcett’s hairstyle. Jennifer Aniston popularized “The Rachel” haircut on the hit show Friends. And we’re all seeing men sporting “man buns” alongside women. Hair is a big deal in our culture. Hair has figured prominently in history, too. The Bible tells us that Samson garnered his strength from his long hair, and lost that strength when Delilah cut it off. Priests and monks used to shave the crowns of their head to show a lack of vanity and symbolize their vow of chastity. Over the centuries, different cultures have upheld norms about hair: for example, the Mohawk hairstyle that we’ve all seen stems from Pawnee Native American nation of the Midwest. People in some African tribes shave their heads as, for example, a sign of mourning or marital status. We value our hair. Who doesn’t view a head full of lush, shiny hair as a symbol of health, success, and confidence? Our hair is tied closely to our identity. We talk about “good” and “bad” hair days. And when we walk out of that salon with our hair freshly styled, it feels like we’re on top of the world. Hair-loss statistics According to the American Hair Loss Association, by the age of 35, two-thirds of men will have some degree of hair loss; by age 50, about 85% of men will have significant thinning of their hair. Hair loss is prevalent in women, too — they make up 40% of hair-loss sufferers. Thanks to society’s pressure to be attractive, hair loss can have a major negative effect on quality of life. Hair loss can be devastating, leading to loss of confidence, poor self-image, and even depression. Alopecia areata There are many causes of hair loss, including thyroid issues, hormonal changes, scalp infections, certain medications, chemotherapy, and r Continue reading >>
Diabetes Can Lead To Hair Loss
Diabetes has been a recognised condition for more than 3,500 years and its link with hair loss is not a new concept. There are two types of diabetes and both can have many adverse effects on your body, including thinning hair and hair loss. Hair growth is one of the many cycles in the complicated systems that are our bodies. If this cycle is disrupted, hair that is shed may not regrow right away, or it may not regrow at all without treatment. Hair loss as a result of diabetes can be controlled and treated with the FDA-approved and clinically proven treatments for hair loss but to understand how they work we need to understand how hair loss can be caused by diabetes. What is Diabetes? Insulin is important in utilising the carbohydrates present in the body. Diabetes occurs because the body can’t use glucose (blood sugar) properly, either owing to a lack of the hormone insulin (Type 1 diabetes), or because the insulin available doesn’t work effectively (Type 2 diabetes). Diabetes puts the body under huge physical stress and the hair growth cycle can take a battering. According to Leonora Doclis, senior hair loss specialist at the Belgravia Centre, diffuse hair loss and telogen effluvium are conditions of hair loss that can be directly caused by diabetes. “Diabetes mainly causes temporary hair loss,” says Leonora. “The problem should correct itself once the hormones are functioning properly again following diabetic treatment, if diabetes is the sole cause of hair loss.” However, diabetes can trigger a lot of diseases and hormonal imbalances. A diabetic’s hormonal balance and hair loss In a lot of cases, hair loss is a direct result of hormonal imbalances. Because diabetes affects hormone levels it can lead to hair loss in predisposed persons (that is, those wh Continue reading >>
