Hair Loss Due To High Blood Pressure
An important takeaway from this study is the fact that the condition of a patients hair can be considered a telltale indicator of their internal health. For instance, if the quality and thickness of the patients hair suddenly starts to change, then its important to investigate whats causing that to happen.
As mentioned, in some cases, medication can be the culprit and some patients might not necessarily be aware that certain medications theyre taking are causing their hair to fall out. Hypertension is a condition that can be controlled through medication, but it needs to be accurately and effectively diagnosed first. The longer it goes untreated, the more obvious the symptoms become and hair loss or thinning is one of them. Since hypertension causes the heart to go into overdrive by overexerting itself, misdiagnosis and lack of treatment can be catastrophic in the long run.
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Potential Causes Of Hair Loss And Baldness
Hair loss whether baldness or noticeably thinning hair can happen for various reasons. Sometimes hair loss is a side effect of a health problem that needs to be addressed and will remedy itself when the health problem is properly treated. If you’re dealing with thinning hair or baldness, its important to see a dermatologist to get to the root of the problem and figure out how to stop hair loss or renew growth.
Before you go to your appointment, check out some of the most common causes of hair loss.
Hair Loss And Medications
Hair loss or hair thinning are common possible side effects of many medications â beta blockers included. There are two types of hair loss that can occur while taking these medications: telogen effluvium and anagen effluvium. With telogen effluvium, the medication affects the hair in the ârestingâ phase of the growth cycle, causing short and temporary hair loss .
With anagen effluvium, thinning occurs with the follicles in the growth stage and stops new hair from growing. Anagen effluvium is longer-term hair loss and can cause hair loss not just on the scalp but with eyebrows and eyelashes, too.
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How Minoxidil Was Transformed From An Antihypertensive To Hair
Founded in 1886 to make friable pills, Upjohn had a well earned reputation for serious pharmaceutical research, and did not want to get caught up in miracle baldness cures. But once minoxidil was on the market for hypertension, it quickly became an open secret that the drug stimulated hair growth, and a letter in the New England Journal of Medicine1 put paid to any lingering hopes that Upjohn could keep the side effect under wraps. If it did not develop minoxidil as a hair restorer, someone else would.
Anthony Chu, professor of dermatology, Buckingham University, and consultant dermatologist and honorary senior lecturer, Imperial College, London, explains that, before minoxidil, balding men were prepared to try anything to make their hair grow back, from standing on their heads to stimulate blood flow to the scalp to taking concoctions of anti-androgens that did little for their hair but caused breast enlargement and a loss of libido.
It was a wasteland, with predatory clinics offering spurious remedies to vulnerable men at considerable cost. In contrast, 40 per cent of men who use minoxidil get reasonable hair growth and, in another 40 per cent, the drug stops them losing more hair. So its only about 20 per cent who do not get any benefit, says Professor Chu.
Is Atenolol Hair Loss Permanent
One of the good things to report about Atenolol hair loss is that it is reversible. Once you stop the medication, and it has time to work its way out of your system, the hair loss should stop and you should start seeing new growth.
If you would like further details, theres more information on medications that cause hair loss available on this website.
But before you make any changes to the medications you are taking, be sure to talk to your doctor. They can help you develop a strategy and options that will work best for you.
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How Is Hair Loss In Women Treated What Medicines Or Supplements May Help
Treatment depends on the cause of your hair loss.
- In cases where the loss is due to stress or hormone changes like pregnancy, there might be no treatment needed. The hair loss will stop after a period of time.
- In cases of hair loss being due to hair styling practices, like tight braids or ponytails or certain chemicals, treatment means not doing the things that caused the damage.
- In cases due to nutritional deficiencies, you might be told to take supplements. For instance, you might be told to take a multivitamin and three to five milligrams of biotin daily.
- Minoxidil is approved for treating FPHL. The 2% or 5% solution can be purchased in stores. However, you have to follow directions exactly and use the product indefinitely. Dont use this product if youre pregnant, if you plan to get pregnant, or if youre breastfeeding.
- The HairMax Lasercomb® low light laser is approved by the US FDA to treat FPHL. Another FDA-approved laser product is the Theradome LH80 PRO® helmet and low light laser helmets and caps.
Other medications that have been studied, but not approved, for hair loss in women include:
- Spironolactone and other anti-androgens.
- Other light treatments.
It is important to note that premenopausal women should not take medications for hair loss treatment without using contraception. Many drugs, including minoxidil and finasteride, are not safe for pregnant women or women who want to get pregnant.
What Causes High Blood Pressure
Many believe that weight is the absolute indicator of high blood pressure, but that’s not always the case. Anyone of any size can have an increased cardiovascular risk profile if they aren’t living a healthy lifestyle. You’re at increased risk of coronary heart disease and weak heart health if you:
- Ingest excessive salt during meals
- Rarely exercise
- Have consistently disturbed sleeping patterns
- Live in poverty
- Have family members who struggle with coronary artery disease
- Are of Black, Caribbean, or Black African decent
Making heart-healthy lifestyle changes can positively impact your health overall and, in turn, reduce cardiovascular risk factors.
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How Do Drugs Cause Hair Loss
Drugs cause hair loss by interfering with the normal cycle of scalp hair growth. During the anagen phase, which lasts for two to seven years, the hair grows. During the telogen phase, which lasts about three months, the hair rests. At the end of the telogen phase, the hair falls out and is replaced by new hair.
Medications can lead to two types of hair loss: telogen effluvium and anagen effluvium. Learn more about other causes of baldness.
Telogen effluvium is the most common form of drug-induced hair loss. It usually appears within 2 to 4 months after starting the drug. This condition causes the hair follicles to go into their resting phase and fall out too early. People with telogen effluvium usually shed between 30% to 70% more than the normal 100 and 150 hairs a day.
Anagen effluvium is hair loss that occurs during the anagen phase of the hair cycle, when the hairs are actively growing. It prevents the matrix cells, which produce new hairs, from dividing normally. This type of hair loss usually occurs within a few days to weeks after taking the medication. It’s most common in people who are taking chemotherapy drugs for cancer and is often severe, causing people to lose most or all of the hair on their head, as well as their eyebrows, eyelashes, and other body hairs.
The severity of drug-induced hair loss depends on the type of drug and dosage, as well as your sensitivity to that drug.
Hair Loss & Health: Why Consulting A Physician Is A Big Deal
Researchers say their findings are important for at least two reasons. First, the study provides a serious word of caution to young men and women who first begin to lose their hair. With such a strong correlation between hair loss and hypertension, individuals who experience hair loss are wise to consult a physician about their physical health. Hypertension causes blood pressure to rise, which also causes the heart to work harder to circulate blood. Over time, this can make a patient more prone to heart attack and stroke. Hypertension is also associated with arterial diseases, kidney disease, and shorter life expectancy. In addition to consulting a physician about these conditions, individuals who experience hair loss may also wish to have blood analysis conducted to assess hormonal health.
Second, researchers say this study, along with others, helps to spread awareness for the way in which hair can be an external barometer for internal health. Lead researcher Dr. Erling Thom explains :
Through our research with Nourkrin and female hair loss, we have discovered that there are many health issues for men and women that can actually be identified at an early stage through looking for hair loss and thinning hair
Losing hair is one of these very early signs , which up till now has not been treated with the respect it deserves, as a precursor to a more serious condition.
Hair Loss Could Be a Sign of Hypertension. Maidenhead Online. Accessed 1 June 2013.
See above.
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What Is Androgenetic Alopecia
Almost every woman eventually develops some degree of female pattern hair loss. It can start any time after the onset of puberty, but women tend to first notice it around menopause, when hair loss typically increases. The risk rises with age, and it’s higher for women with a history of hair loss on either side of the family.
As the name suggests, androgenetic alopecia involves the action of the hormones called androgens, which are essential for normal male sexual development and have other important functions in both sexes, including sex drive and regulation of hair growth. The condition may be inherited and involve several different genes. It can also result from an underlying endocrine condition, such as overproduction of androgen or an androgen-secreting tumor on the ovary, pituitary, or adrenal gland. In either case, the alopecia is likely related to increased androgen activity. But unlike androgenetic alopecia in men, in women the precise role of androgens is harder to determine. On the chance that an androgen-secreting tumor is involved, it’s important to measure androgen levels in women with clear female pattern hair loss.
High Blood Pressure Damages Arteries
Another explanation is that high blood pressure can damage your arteries by making them less elastic. Unfortunately, hypertension is associated with problems such as high cholesterol levels, prediabetes, and abdominal obesity a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors called Metabolic Syndrome . MetS worsens arterial damage, decreasing blood flow to your organs which can lead to serious or even fatal complications.
When arteries in the heart are affected, it causes chest pain or what is referred to as angina, and if it affects the arteries in the brain, it can lead to a stroke.
Of course, the arteries that supply blood and oxygen to the hair follicles are not spared. So the theory goes that, when high blood pressure restricts blood flow to the follicles, it deprives the hair of essential nutrients needed for it to grow. Hence, it can be a contributing factor to hair loss.
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Is There A Link Between High Blood Pressure And Hair Loss
Several studies have linked cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and thinning hair in recent years, but the results are inconclusive especially for women.
A receding hairline is a fact of life for many men. According to the American Hair Loss Association, by the age of 35 two out of every three American men will experience some hair loss, and by 50, approximately 85% of men have significantly thinning hair. In addition, male pattern baldness is often hereditary and tricky to treat.
In 2013, Japanese researchers found that men who had crown-top hair loss, or vertex baldness, were 52% more likely to have heart disease than those with their hair still intact. The researchers found a 22% higher risk in men with receding hairline but no other hair loss, which isn’t a statistically significant result. Research linking hair loss and high blood pressure in women is limited.
The Secret Life Of Your Hair
Each hair on your head has its own individual life cycle: A strand grows between two and eight years. Then, in a period of two or three weeks, it stops growing and rests for three to four months before detaching from the follicle. Your head of hair is a mixture of 85 to 90 percent actively growing hair and hair thats resting and waiting to shed.
But when the body experiences a trauma, sudden, substantial shedding can occur. Triggers can include an acute illness, stress, a severe nutritional deficiency, rapid weight loss or a drug that proves toxic to hair follicles. Drugs can be the culprit for a condition known as drug-induced telogen effluvium, which leads to increased shedding on top of the scalp a few months after exposure.
Hair loss is a relatively rare side effect, but a variety of medications may cause it: beta-blockers, blood thinners, antidepressants, cholesterol-lowering drugs, certain nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and hormone-related drugs like thyroid meds, hormone replacement therapies or steroids.
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Whats Hair Loss In Women
Hair loss in women is just that when a woman experiences unexpected, heavy loss of hair. Generally, humans shed between 50 and 100 single hairs per day. Hair shedding is part of a natural balance some hairs fall out while others grow in. When the balance is interrupted when hair falls out and less hair grows in hair loss happens. Hair loss is different than hair shedding. The medical term for hair loss is alopecia.
Hair grows on almost all of your skin surfaces not the palms of your hands, soles of your feet, lips or eyelids. Light, fine, short hair is called vellus hair. Terminal/androgenic hair is thicker, darker and longer.
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Does High Blood Pressure Cause Hair Loss
Receding hairline, thinning, or loss of hair are some of the common signs of ageing. While many youngsters experience it in their 20s, it is not a symptom or indicator of high blood pressure. A study stated that the incidence of vertex pattern baldness was higher in men with hypertension .
It was earlier presumed that high blood pressure restricts blood supply to the hair follicles, causing loss of hair. But, it has now been found that the primary factor of hair loss in people with hypertension is not because of the condition but the medications used to treat it. Blood pressure pills and hair loss can be connected to some extent.
Along with the effects of hypertensive medications, being anxious all the time can put an excessive amount of stress affecting blood pressure and negatively impacting hair health.
Here’s how stress can cause hair loss:
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Stress constricts blood vessels, restricting the blood supply to hair follicles.
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Hair follicles cannot get a constant and adequate supply of nutrients and oxygen required for good hair health.
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Suffering From Hair Loss High Blood Pressure Could Be The Reason Behind This Hair Fall
High blood pressure patients often complain of a hair fall problem and all of this could be because of their battle with this chronic disease Read on
High blood pressure is not easy to spot. This happens because it has side effects that are common problems and are not taken seriously. Hair loss is one such thing. We end up with hair loss due to a number of things like a poor diet or a poor hair care routine. Hair loss is also a side effect of stressing too much. Now, hypertension or high blood pressure is also co-related to hair loss and other such problems. Researches have shown that people suffering from high blood pressure can also have a hair loss problem. Though the results of these researches don’t clearly specify if the hair loss can happen particularly due to high blood pressure or the medicines that are prescribed for high blood pressure.
High blood pressure can have an impact on your heart and lead to a heart disease which is also associated with hair loss. While hair loss cannot be considered a symptom of high blood pressure per se, but it can be the side effect. Most of the times the real culprit behind this drastic hair loss or receding hairline is the medication. Blood pressure patients are prescribed medications that help keep their blood pressure under control and a lot of these medications contain ingredients that can be the reason behind the hair loss.
Medications That Cause Hair Loss In Females
Hormone therapies can trigger hormone imbalances in women, causing hair loss and potentially causing permanent female pattern baldness.
Birth control pills used for contraception and hormone replacement therapies , like progesterone and estrogen, are examples. Women who have undergone a full hysterectomy, for example, require ongoing HRT after surgery.
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