New Alopecia Research
by
site editor John L. Farnsworth, last update: 5/17/2012 9:08:18 AM.
hair, alopecia
Both men and women are likely to experience some kind of hair loss. If you are suffering from some kind of hair loss symptoms, especially resulting in balding patches over your head, you may be interested in alopecia research. Alopecia research is focused on better understanding the condition of alopecia and its causes in order to find treatments for alopecia and eventually, even a cure some of the hair loss symptoms.
Alopecia is a condition that affects the scalp and causes hair to fall out usually rather quickly. It also tends to affect one side of the head more than the other. Alopecia can result in patchy hair loss over the head, total hair loss over the head, or even hair loss over the entire body.
Alopecia research has provided the medical community with information needed to develop treatments for alopecia that target the specific causes of alopecia. Specifically, alopecia research is focused on the following areas: 1) understanding alopecia; 2) mapping genes; 3) understanding the growth cycle of the hair follicle; 4) targeting the immune system; and 5) finding ways to administer treatments.
Treatments for alopecia are developed from this research. Alopecia research indicates that there may be a genetic link to alopecia. Therefore, researchers are mapping genes in order to better understand this possible connection. However, alopecia research also indicates that genes alone are not the cause of alopecia. By studying the growth cycle of the hair follicle, researcher are able to identify when the growth cycle of the hair follicle is interrupted and pin point what is causing the interruption. By understanding the source of interruption on the growth of the hair follicle, researcher as then able to develop treatments for alopecia that may be able to remove or eliminate this interruption.
One of the causes of alopecia is an immune deficiency. One area of alopecia research targets the human immune system in order to find treatments for alopecia that can remedy this immune deficiency. Finally, it should be noted that any effective treatments for alopecia are only effective if they can be directly received by the hair follicle. Penetrating the fat under the skin of the scalp is challenging. Alopecia research is currently developing treatments for alopecia that can get through the fatty wall of the scalp so that the medication can actually reach the hair follicle where it can begin to work to fight alopecia.
Treatments for alopecia that have been developed to date include pharmaceutical drugs and herbal supplements that are ingested into the body as well as ointments that are applied topically to the scalp. These treatments for alopecia are effective in managing the disease. Through alopecia research however, the medical community is hoping to find treatments for alopecia that will one day actually cure alopecia. Therefore, alopecia research continues to study the various factors associated with alopecia in order to reach this goal.