Guild of Health

Archive for February, 2009

For any hair loss treatment to be effective, it is essential to first know the exact cause of hair loss. Some hair shedding in men as well as women is normal. As hairs are shed at the end of their growth cycle and replaced by new ones, some degree of hair loss is normal. However, should you find any kind of abnormal hair loss; you can approach a medical professional for treatment.

Hair loss treatment medicines

Some people may choose to treat their hair loss with medicines while others are not as concerned about their thinning hair lines or even baldness. If a disease is the reason for your hair loss, then treating the disease may stop the hair loss. Or simply treating hair loss with prescription drugs can also reverse hair loss.

Treatment for hair loss does tend to boost self-esteem and one’s overall well-being. While some would willingly trade this with drug-related health inconsistencies, others would tread more carefully and make an informed decision. Some medicines could have harmful side effects but using the medicines under medical guidance can lessen the incidence of side effects.

Inherited hair loss (androgenetic alopecia) treatment aims to avoid hair loss, promote hair growth, and cover bald areas on the scalp. Since all individuals react differently to dissimilar medicines, everyone may not notice positive results or re-grow a full head of hair. The medicines include:

Minoxidil (Rogaine) is an over-the-counter topical solution that is sprayed on and rubbed into the scalp twice a day. Once use of this solution is stopped, you will lose all your re-grown hair in time.

Finasteride (Propecia) is a prescription-only medication for men. One 1mg pill must be taken once daily. However, it has not established its efficacy in women and is therefore not approved for use by women. In addition, women who are planning on becoming pregnant in the future should not take or handle crushed or broken tablets, because Finasteride can cause birth defects in a male foetus.

Even though treatment with medicines may slow hair loss and help hair re-growth, you much consider the following before making your decision. These include:

You may not get as much hair growth as you expected Medicines for hair growth might have to be taken over the long term or all re-grown hair will fall out Your may have to pay for the medication from you own pocket because you insurance might not cover the medicine; medicines can be expensive Long-term use of these medicines may result in side effects that are not yet known; certain health conditions do not allow you to use these medications All hair loss treatments have their limitations.

Treatments Available for Hair Loss

There is not much that men or women can do to prevent inherited hair loss. This type of hair loss is a trait that carries itself in the DNA of the person. Nonetheless, not all hair loss is hereditary. There are cases where individuals have experienced hair loss while their parents and close relatives have not. This generally points a finger at other causes like stress, poor nutrition or even pollution. Premature hair loss may be result of drug use, stress, overwork, hair dyes and other chemicals, fungal infections and disease, among others.

Depending on the type of hair loss, treatments will normally differ. However, it is essential that first the cause of hair loss is established so that it becomes easy to embark on the type of treatment. For example, if treatment of a disease, like chemotherapy is the cause of hair loss then medicines may not necessarily have the potential to treat this hair loss. On the other hand, if stress is the cause of hair loss, then treatment may be used to repair damaged hair.

Some conditions produce small areas of hair loss, while others affect large areas of the scalp. Alopecia can affect hair on other parts of the body too – for example, the beard. Common causes of patchy hair loss are:

Alopecia areata (patches of baldness that usually grow back) Alopecia totalis Traction alopecia (thinning from tight braids or ponytails) Trichotillomania (the habit of twisting or pulling hair out) Tinea capitis (fungal infection)

Alopecia areata, a common condition usually starts as a single, quarter-sized circle of perfectly smooth baldness. But normally patches do re-grow in three to six months without treatment. Sometimes, the hair may also grow back in white colour but later change back to its usual colour.

In another variant, when the old patches re-grow hair, they may be replaced by other patches.

An autoimmune condition, alopecia areata is said to occur when the body attacks its own hair follicles. Treatments for alopecia areata include injecting steroids into affected patches to stimulate hair growth. But this is not very practical for large areas of hair loss. Other treatments include oral steroids and ultraviolet light therapy. But the downside of this is that these could be toxic and impractical. In mild cases, patients generally comb over the affected areas. In severe cases, people have taken to wearing hairpieces; another option is shaving the scalp completely; this is a more excepted fashion statement in current times.

Hair loss may begin as Alopecia Areata and progress into Alopecia Totalis.

Alopecia totalis, the most extensive in form of the autoimmune disorder, actually affects the whole scalp and results in total baldness. Stress is thought to trigger this type of hair loss but people leading relatively stress-free lives have also experienced these symptoms.

Methotrexate and corticosteroids have been proposed as treatments.

Traction alopecia is normally caused as a result of tight braids and ponytails that pull hard on scalp hairs, damage dermal papilla and hair follicle and contribute to their falling out. It is therefore best to choose hairstyles that decrease pressure on the hair roots and will also avoid permanent damage.

Traction alopecia is reversible if diagnosed early, but may lead to permanent hair loss if it is undetected for a protracted period. Change in hair styles or medication treatments may reverse traction alopecia. Unfortunately, no medical treatment is available to reverse late-stage traction alopecia.

Trichotillomania refers to the habit of pulling out hairs or twisting them, sometimes unknowingly. In this condition the scalp and the eyelashes are also affected and show patches of broken-off hairs.

Treatment entirely depends on your behaviour change; you have to become aware of your problem and then deal with it

Tinea capitis is a fungal infection of the scalp. It mostly affects school-age children. Bald spots normally show broken-off hairs.

Treatment includes oral antibiotics that penetrate the hair roots and cure the infection, after which hair grows back.

Generalized hair loss includes conditions like:

Telogen effluvium normally means rapid shedding of hair after childbirth, fever, or after sudden weight loss. There is no medical treatment to correct this type of hair. In time the body adjusts to the changes and starts to work normally again.

Androgenetic alopecia has no medical cure. Normally the people facing this type of hair loss must stay with this condition or use prescription medication like Propecia for the long-term. Women do not have this option. Both men and women can both go in for hair transplants. But this is an expensive option.

No matter what the cause, hair loss is a difficult matter to confront. Moreover, individuals may not have control over the cause of their hair loss. Besides, multiple factors contributing to hair loss make treating the condition all the more difficult; but it is not impossible. Even in the most extreme cases, treatment solutions can generally be found.

There are many Xbox 360 owners who have been frustrated by the “red ring of death” error. It is a fatal error that everybody hates. This is what made a lot of Xbox 360 units unusable. Maybe you are one of those victims that want to have their Xbox 360 red ring fixed.  Wait! Before you do something silly that might worsen the problem, you might consider these tips before proceeding.

Fix Xbox 360 Red Lights Problem Today

Although, others claim they have found out some ways to have their Xbox 360 red ring fixed, here are some ways that you might want to consider on your restoration process.

Just like what I am doing to my pc, try to “restart” the console. This is the basic way to trouble shoot a system. If that failed, you can try checking all your connections for there might be some loose wires that caused this error. You can also try unplugging your Xbox 360 from the power source and disconnect its hard drive. After that, try plugging back the power and turn the console back on. Crossing your fingers and pray that you’ll have your Xbox 360 red ring fix, just hope that the console will not show the three red lights error. If it’s good, then turn it off and as well as the power source and reconnect the hard drive then turn the console on.

In anyway, prevention is still a lot better than cure.

You won’t be looking for this kind of article to have your Xbox 360 red ring fix if you have these few things in mind in the first place. Ensure that you never let your machine become overheated. If you think your Xbox had suffered more than enough heat, cool it down in a ventilated and open area. Also check if there is any buildup of dust inside your Xbox from time to time. And most important, limit your time using this machine and let it cool for a while.

How do they differ?

Analogue hearing aids use a amplifier to raise all sounds by a certain amount, which can be adjusted by a simple volume control. The problem with this is that hearing loss is rarely equal over the range of pitches and by raising the volume to hear speech, we will be raising the level of background noise as well. Difficult!

In fact many of us have been put off wearing a hearing device for just that reason. The latest digital hearing instruments from manufacturers like Phonak, Oticon and Resound can be set not to enhance background noise, and to just concentrate on hearing speech, which is what hearing aids are designed to do. This means that digital hearing aids are much better for more difficult types of hearing loss, and for hearing in background noise.

The newest digital hearing aids are also great at suppressing those unwanted sounds, incorporating features such as wind suppression and feedback cancellation. These two features can alone substantially improve one’s listening experience. Really for anyone wearing an analogue hearing aid they should try and listen to the benefits of these latest devices because the benefits really are incredible and must be experienced.

Its sometimes considered a cliché to hear customers who are wearing the latest devices, comment that “it really has changed my life”, or “i can hear birdsong again”. But its really anything but a cliché and it is only when we are able to experience these amazing new advances in hearing health that we can truly see at the benefits they deliver.

If you’ve got an analogue hearing device, or even if you just think you’ve got a hearing loss, look for free hearing tests from a local hearing audiologist and ask for a demonstration of digital hearing aids. It really is as simple as that, and anyone who is concerned about their hearing or currently wearing the older analogue style should go and have a look for themselves.