August is National Hair Loss Awareness Month in the US
This year marks the 11th year of the US National Hair Loss Awareness Month. Hair loss is common with 60 % of men and 40 % of women affected by hereditary forms of hair loss by age 50. This translates into 90 million men and women in the US and Canada alone.
In addition to hereditary hair loss, there are over 100 additional reasons to lose hair. These reasons range from autoimmune and infectious causes to scarring hair diseases and hair loss from hair styling practices. It is important raise awareness of hair loss among the general population and encourage individuals to seek advice about hair loss at early stages. For the vast majority of hair loss conditions I treat, a better long term outcome is achieved when treatment is initiated in early stages.
Although National Hair Loss Awareness month is targetted to the general public, there are important messages for the medical community as well. It is critically important to train more physicians and medical speicalists about hair loss, so that patients with less common and rare hair loss conditions also receive prompt diagnosis and treatment.
This article was written by Dr. Jeff Donovan, a Canadian and US board certified dermatologist specializing exclusively in hair loss.