Thinning of the hair
If you think your hair is thinning, although you do not have any real baldness, it is important to check that this is actually the case. Try the tug test, and remember that it is normal to lose 50–100 hairs a day. Sometimes, thinning of the hair can be entirely in the mind, as a symptom of depression.
Some drugs that may cause hair thinning
- Lipid-lowering drugs (statins, clofibrate, bezafibrate)
- Anticancer drugs
- ACE inhibitors for blood pressure or heart failure (ramipril, captopril, enalapril, lisinopril)
- Calcium antagonists for blood pressure (amlodipine)
- Blood-thinning drugs (warfarin)
- Drugs for gout (allopurinol)
- Antimalarials (chloroquine)
- Drugs for epilepsy (valproate sodium, vigabatrin)
- Drugs for Parkinson’s disease (for example, pramipexole, bromocriptine)
- Anti-thyroid drugs (carbimazole, propylthiouracil)
- Anti-acne drugs (isotretinoin)
- Mood-stabilizing drugs (lithium, valproic acid)
Written by: Dr Margaret Stearn
Edited by: Dr Margaret Stearn
Last updated:
Friday, February 26th 2010
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Comments on this article
Posted by Optional on 23/03/2010 at 03:23:28 am
I am very surprised that the Dr. listed ace inhibitors and calcium channel blockers as reasons for hair loss. If anything the beta blockers are the most common cause for hair loss, such as Atenolol, etc.
Posted by Lisa on 12/01/2010 at 12:46:00 am
Hi my name is lisa, i am 14 and i am asian. I got my hair straighten perm and i had huge hair loss and dryness. I wonder if my hairloss would grow back and if the perm would go away..help!
Posted by chanade on 07/01/2010 at 10:16:00 pm
PLEASE HELP ME my hair is thinning at the back of my hair there is also a bold patch at the back of my hair its fulling out in strands and im soo scard im going to end up with no hair it seems to be getting warse i been to my gp who did a thyroid test and it was ok !!!!!! what can i do
Posted by khan on 11/10/2009 at 12:23:00 pm
i am loosing hair
Posted by Anonymous on 02/10/2009 at 03:07:00 am
I am going through my change since the age of 21. Premature ovarien failure . I have been taking Lival HRT and i have notice hair loss at the front of my hair and on the crown. What can i do to cure this?
Posted by sally on 09/09/2009 at 09:19:00 pm
i am 41 and started getting grey hair from the ageof 17 i have had to dye my hair for over 10 years now. recently i have noticed a sudden thinness in my hair where my scalp is very visible this is causing me to be very distressed. Not surwhy this has come about or what to do
Thinning of the hair
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embarrassingproblems.com
Fascinating facts
We each have about 100 000 hairs on the scalp
It is normal to lose 50-100 hairs from the head each day
Each hair on the head grows for about 5 years before being shed
Eyebrow hairs grow for only 10 weeks
Scalp hair grows at a rate of about 1 cm (just under half an inch) a month
A survey has shown that about 7.9 million men and 1.6 million women in the UK have hair loss problems
Each year, American men spend about $900 million on efforts to regrow hair
In the USA and UK, there has not been a bald President or Prime Minister since the television age began
In Old Master paintings, saints are often depicted as bald
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