Effluvium treatment by avoidance

Most forms of effluvium hair loss are caused by environmental factors or at least something that is external to the individual’s own body. So the easiest way to treat an effluvium is to avoid the cause. For example, if the hair loss involves exposure to toxic chemicals then the most effective and immediate treatment is to avoid that toxic chemical. However, the hard part is identifying the potential cause of the hair loss. Dermatologists who suspect someone has telogen effluvium may ask many questions about lifestyle and the environment in which the person lives to try and identify an external cause for the hair loss.

Effluvium treatment with drugs

As the mane suggests, telogen effluvium is hair loss caused by hair follicles entering a telogen resting state. All hair follicles go through a cycle of growth and rest (see hair biology), but in healthy individuals the number of hair follicles in the telogen resting stage averages only 10%. If this figure is increased, as in a telogen effluvium, then diffuse hair thinning is clearly visible.

Knowing that telogen effluvium is the result of too many hair follicles entering a resting stage at the same time, the method of treatment is obvious. Find a method to force the resting hair follicles back into an active anagen growth phase! One approved drug does just this. Minoxidil (Rogaine, Regaine) is widely available drug with a key property of promoting telogen hair follicles to enter anagen growth activity. Minoxidil is advertised for treating pattern baldness but dermatologists also use it for treating some forms of telogen effluvium and for reducing the extent of anagen effluvium caused by chemotherapeutic drugs.

Hormone supplements or hormone antagonizers may be recommended if hormone under or over activity is suspected as being a factor in effluvium type hair loss.