Hair loss- reasons & cure?

Quite a considerable amount of people are turning bald or experience 'hair thinning'. Alopecia is not really a favourable condition one would want to experience, especially at a young age or a not-so-old age. Who are prone to have this problem? Why does these people loose hair?

I came up with my own hypothetical 10 reasons:

1. If you have (more) testosterone. I noticed it is more common in men. It seems that dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a chemical produced by the male hormone testosterone is a cause to this problem.

Experts believe men with high levels of testosterone are more likely to lose their hair, especially if baldness already runs in the family.

2. If you have a stressful, easily frustrated job. eg.having 'writer's block' when reaching dateline to hand in the article. 'Hair-grabbing' action may occur.

3. When you read/ study a lot. Hands may feel too 'free' when reading. Perhaps then, fingers will run to the scalp, scratch, doing 'pick and pluck' actions or maybe run down a feel strands of hair and twist them up, or maybe start pulling hairs.

4. It is in your genes.

5. When you load too much of chemicals on your scalp/ hair.

6. When you 'over-treated' your hair. eg. hair rebonding, or maybe some 'hair growing' treatment, etc

7. When you are on some drug/ treatment that may give this side effect. eg. chemotherapy

8. Or maybe you have suddenly withdraw from drug like minoxidil

9. When you have some diseases that can give rise to alopecia. eg. vitiligo, lupus

10. When you have not been drinking 60 cups of coffee a day. (haha) Read on to find out why..

Coffee could hold the cure for baldness

(Daily Mail)


The new study, published in the International Journal of Dermatology, found that caffeine works by blocking the effects of a chemical known to damage hair follicles.

But drinking plenty of coffee may not be the best answer.

Scientists estimate up to 60 cups a day would be needed for significant amounts to reach follicles in the scalp.

Instead, German cosmetics firm Alpecin has developed a caffeine-rich solution that can be rubbed on the scalp.

read on @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=430669&in_page_id=1774

Peter Pan treatment

Is 'Peter Pan' treatment right?

Jan. 5: A severely disabled girl in Seattle suffering from a rare brain condition known as static encephalopathy can't walk, talk or eat. So the parents of the 9-year-old have decided to keep her small.

Following a request from her parents, doctors there surgically removed her uterus and newly-forming breasts and began treating her with high doses of estrogen to ensure that Ashley would forever remain a child. Why would Ashley’s parents and doctors decide to have their daughter, like Peter Pan, never grow up? And why would doctors agree to use their surgical skills and drugs to stunt a child’s normal development?


The doctors said:
If she remains small then her parents can move her easily from place to place. By remaining small she can interact more with the rest of the family who can take her around the home and to outside events. She won’t have to deal with monthly periods. She may have a lower risk of getting raped and pregnant. She will not have breasts that might make it uncomfortable for her to lie in one place for long periods of time.


Ashley's parents said:
By keeping Ashley small, they can bathe her, move her about in a stroller and help her avoid developing bed sores. With no breasts she may be a less tempting target for any future male caregivers. And she obviously will not face the risk of breast cancer. The key point the parents make is that they decided to keep their child permanently as a child for her own good.


Bioethicist, Arthur Caplan said:
I believe it is true that it is easier to move Ashley about if she is the size of a 6-year-old. But I also believe that a decent society should be able to provide appropriately sized wheelchairs and bathtubs and home-health assistance to families like this one. Keeping Ashley small is a pharmacological solution for a social failure — the fact that American society does not do what it should to help severely disabled children and their families.

The problems Ashley and her parents face are terribly real. But permanently freezing a person into childhood is not the solution. Families like Ashley’s need more help, more resources, more breaks from the relentless pressure of providing care and some hope that their daughter can be somewhere safe and caring after they are gone.

America has not yet made that promise to Ashley or her parents or the many other parents and kids that face severely disabling mental illness and impairment. We should.



Who is right? Who is wrong? Everyone has their own say, their own points. It is always difficult to judge on ethical issues and especially when it is concerning one's health; one's life. Ethics to me is always an endless debate. "Peter Pan treatment", it is the first time I am hearing this. The more advanced we are, the more alternatives and discoveries we make. How are people accepting the "new"? It depends. It is all subjective and debatable. How far am I accepting this? It is new to me and I'm neither accepting nor rejecting. I've just saw another part of the 'world' and still digesting.

4th anorexia death

Brazil transfixed by 4th anorexia death
By PETER MUELLO
AP

"The most recent victim was Beatriz Cristina Ferraz Lopes Bastos, a
23-year-old teacher whose death Sunday at a hospital in Jau, 200 miles northeast of Sao Paulo, was reported by national television news programs.
Local media reports said she was 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weighed just 77 pounds."

"Anorexia became big news in Brazil last month with the death of 21-year-old
Ana Carolina Reston, a successful model who died of generalized infection caused by anorexia nervosa. She reportedly carried just 88 pounds on her 5-foot-8 frame."

"college student Carla Sobrado Casalle, 21, died in the southeastern city of Araraquara, also with symptoms linked to anorexia. She was just under 5-foot-9 and weighed 99 pounds. "

Whoa..honestly it is scary to be that thin; not pretty.

OK, I may be thin..but not that thin and I am not anorexic. And as i've mentioned before, I am honestly trying to gain healthy weight. As what the creative director of Sao Paulo Fashion Week, Paulo Borges said, "Beauty and fashion is about health in the first place."

So, girls...EAT =)