What causes eyebrow hair loss? What are some of the good treatment for this problem? Could transplant be a solution? Learn more about why you could be losing brow hair and what options there are for regrowth and restoration.
Losing eyebrows from time to time is pretty normal. Like all hairs on the body, they have a natural cycle that includes shedding at the last stage.
This process, however, should be barely noticeable and certainly not leave bald patches or even areas without hairs. If you notice the sudden and extreme loss, or your thick eyebrows thinning out of nowhere, you may have a cause to worry.
While we think of them as a cosmetic, for the most part, they are also important protection for the eye from particles and liquid. For this reason, preventing them from falling out is important whether you are male or female.
Eyebrow falling out could also be a symptom of an underlying more serious condition. It is therefore important to answer the question of why am I losing them?
Several things could lead to your their falling out. For one, you could be too enthusiastic with the tweezers leading to over-plucking. If you do not pluck them, your loss of eyebrows could be due to one of the reasons below.
1. Deficiency
Just like a poor diet may cause hair loss, lack of proteins, minerals, and vitamins may affect their them, consequently make to them falling out.
2. Medication
You can lose your eyebrows along with other hairs from your body if you are on medication that is known to cause hair loss as a side effect. An example is the drugs used for chemotherapy in cancer patients.
Hormonal contraception may also cause thinning in women especially if they were already genetically predisposed to hair loss. Other medication which may prove disruptive to normal hormone activity may also make you lose them.
3. Autoimmune disorders
Several autoimmune disorders may be behind this problem. In actual sense, hair loss is a common symptom of autoimmune illnesses. The most commonly associated with this problem are:
a). Alopecia Areata
In the case of Alopecia Areata, the body turns on itself attacking the hair follicle, making them fall off in various parts of the body. If it affects your brows, you could lose a section or all of them. The effect alopecia may be permanent but for most people the condition is temporary.
A section of people will have hair loss and regrowth from time to time while others may have a one-off occurrence.
b). Lupus
People suffering from this autoimmune disorder may experience hair loss as one of the symptoms and one of the places they will notice this it first is on the eyebrows.
4. Skin Conditions
Some people with eczema or atopic dermatitis as it is commonly known may experience itchy eyebrows and loss. Psoriasis, seborrhea could also lead cause this problem in the affected area. You can also be losing them due to contact dermatitis if it affects your brow.
Growths on the skin, even if they are not malignant like moles or skin tags could also lead to loss of patches of eyebrow hair if they are in this area.
5. Thyroid Problems
Hypothyroidism, a condition where the thyroid gland is underperforming is often named as one of the hair thinning causes. This condition will cause one a host of symptoms like skin dryness, fatigue, and sudden weight gain.
Thinning hair including that on your brows will show up at the later stages of hypothyroidism. Hair falling off may be more noticeable than other parts as those on the brow are not as dense as other areas on the body.
However, not all thinning can be blamed on a malfunctioning thyroid gland, but when it is due to hypothyroidism, it has a very specific pattern. The falling or thinning is usually concentrated on the outer edge, or outer third of the eyebrow.
6. Scarring
Accidents and burns on the face could lead to scarring and permanent loss.
7. Age
Like everywhere else on the body, the loss can also happen due to age.
9. Hansen’s Disease
You may know it by the more common name, leprosy. If it affects the face, especially on the brow area, then it may cause the loss of eyebrows.
Treatment will take several forms. There is some treatment that will stop further loss with others focus on regrowth. Treatments are available in a variety of forms, from topical medication to surgery.
Rogaine
A common treatment is Rogaine.
It can be found in liquid or lotion form. Some reviews say it is great at preventing further loss along with helping you grow new ones in a couple of months of consistent use.
Latisse
People looking to stop further brow loss can use Latisse which is the only known prescription medication for eyelash growth. A plus with Latisse as a treatment to regrow eyebrows is that it also darkens the skin under them making them appear darker and thus thicker.
See a doctor
If you are not sure on the cause on your case, is best that you get a qualified medical practitioner to look at them. He will recommend a good treatment will that address the hair loss causes first and any way to encourage regrowth.
It beats reason to jump on re-growing them when you are still losing them to say eczema. Treat eczema first.
If you prefer home remedies and have established that the loss is only temporary, you can try a home remedy to encourage growth.
In some unfortunate instances like, say scarring from burns or severe cases of alopecia, the brow loss is permanent, and no home remedy will help. You could start looking at restoration surgery which is basically a hair transplant procedure.
There are not too many options for those with permanent loss. Besides tattooing them in and using makeup to draw them in, a transplant is a sure option.
Let us face it, tattoos and makeup never give a natural-looking result, neither are they permanent. Sometimes they are downright scary. So, you are only left with an eyebrow hair transplant if you want to put the matter to bed once and for all.
The procedure involves removing some hair from some other area of your body with active follicle; typically, it is gotten from the back of the head, and putting it on the brow area.
It should give you satisfying results if you ensure to track down a hair restoration expert to carry out the replacement.
The transplantation should take in a couple of days when done correctly by an expert. It is important that you check out the previous work of the surgeon you select to ensure his designs and shape that is flattering. Men and women brow shapes are distinguishable, and this should be considered if they are to look as natural as possible.
This reconstruction procedure is ideal alopecia treatment as the transplant can be done for only a small area or the whole eyebrow if you lost all your hair.
