Scientific collaboration between Professor Marco Toscani and Dr. Pasquale Fino, Chair of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Umberto I Health Center – “Sapienza” University of Rome.
Trichotillomania is a type of hair loss due to voluntary pulling by the patient which often ends up breaking the hair shaft. In general, the patient twists the hair around a finger.
The gesture is occasional when going to sleep or concentrating on a task, but may become repetitive or obsessive.
It can lead to one or more areas of hair loss, usually in an irregular and bizarre shape. In these patches, the hair appears broken into different lengths, features a normal color and structure and does not detach easily. The most commonly affected areas are the frontoparietal regions of the side corresponding to the dominant cerebral hemisphere.
The condition mostly arises during infancy (men) and adolescence (women). At these ages the phenomenon is an expression of distress, a way to call for attention from the parent. While, if present in an adult, the psychological problem is more serious. Psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and psychosis are to be considered.
Brittle hair is hair that appears opaque and without shininess. It is characterized by glaringly visible damage and deterioration of the shaft.
The causes that lead to the problem of brittle hair may be of endogenous and exogenous origin.
The sebaceous glands are glands that secrete sebum, an oily, acidic substance with a pH of 3.5. They are connected laterally to the hair follicle. Sebaceous glands are found with a density of approximately 100/cm2 throughout all areas of the skin. In the human body, they are located across the entire surface of the skin, except for the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet.
Recent studies have demonstrated that around one in five young men tend to lose their hair prematurely over time.
This problem does not affect only young men but also young women.
In the majority of cases, it is androgenetic alopecia (pattern hair loss) and therefore is hereditary/genetic. However, it is important to remember that often factors of psychological origin like performance anxiety, trauma and emotional stress take over, thereby becoming a source and cause of hair loss from stress.
The scalp is an ultra-specialized area of the skin, where hair is anchored. Like other hair, also the hair on the scalp originates from a hair follicle, called a bulb.
A shedding of hair is considered physiologically normal when hair loss is limited to around one hundred hairs per day. During an individual’s life hair grows, falls out and regrows around twenty times. Each cycle, especially for females, may last up to six years and if hair loss is found within this time frame, it is considered absolutely physiological.
The term Telogen Effluvium was introduced for the first time by Kligman (*) in 1961 to introduce an acute hair loss of benign origin that follows an intense and short period of stress of different types. Subsequently, Rebora (**) introduced the concept of chronic Telogen Effluvium.
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