Hair loss can be diagnosed through a patient's medical history and through a series of physical examinations. The process for testing and diagnosis of alopecia may involve the following:
- Questions relating to patient's hair loss wondered,
- The pattern of hair loss and the patient's scalp will be examined and
- few hairs can be pulled out using the Proof of hair pulling
Androgenetic alopecia, the most common type of hair loss disease (loss of hair-diseases.htm), one can easily recognize and no. Men who have this illness tend to lose hair on the forehead and the area in areas at the top of the head, while maintaining the normal amount of hair in all other areas, while women who have androgenetic alopecia tend to have an equal amount of thinning hair across the entire scalp.
Men's hair loss is easier to diagnose that the hair loss that occurs in women. This is because the pattern of hair loss in women is less clear that the patterns with men. Women who suffer from mild and moderate hair loss, but have normal fertility history and menstrual cycles do not need any trial, however, some women who have irregular cycles, too much hair on the body, and episodes of acne can be proof of hormones called androgens.
In the diagnosis of alopecia, the doctor may need to determine the cause of hair loss through the acquisition of a detailed clinical history to obtain information on the following topics:
- hair loss characteristics: the doctor may ask if hair is thinning visible, with a pile of hair falling into thickets, or if the scalp is increasingly visible, but the shedding of hair is not so remarkable.
- family history of hair loss: the doctor will ask for the information known about all the families that have suffered from hair loss and may also ask why their hair loss.
- length of time the hair loss has been ongoing the health professional may want information on the amount of time that the individual has been losing hair
- hairdressing habits: some hairstyles contribute to the loss of hair, so the doctor can ask questions regarding the choice of haircuts, and any medical treatments to hair.
- recent illness: hair loss can be attributed to diseases such as ringworms, so that questions regarding what they might obtain a medical history.
- Medication:some drugs cause hair loss and, therefore, let the doctor know about all the medicines that can help diagnose the problem correctly
- Diet: doctors may want details on the amount of protein and iron in one's diet and that deficiencies in these subjects can cause hair loss (hair-loss-causes.htm).
- If for some reason, the cause of hair loss is not determined, some tests can be done to ascertain the cause of alopecia or hair loss.
- Hair analysis: the health professional will have to take a hair sample for examination under a microscope. Scalp may be taken as well.
- Blood tests: blood tests may include tests for conditions such as hyperactive or underactive thyroid glands.
