Wednesday, August 22, 2007

SODIUM VALPROATE AND HAIR LOSS

The excess hair fall and even hair loss may be noticed as a shock ( telogen effluvium) following her head injury. But 12 -28% patients who take sodium valproate experience increase hair fall in few weeks that follow and this hairs usually come back in few months after the medication is stopped. Minoxidil local appliction and the vitamine and minerals may help early recovery.

HAIR CUT AND TRANSPLANT

Having your hair long enough (more than an inch) will help to cover your donor stitch whereas having your hair cut before the transplant help to keep the operated area clean easily. Now that you had transplant it is best to wait for about 2 -3 weeks before the hair cut i.e. after your wounds heal completely. Although the remaining native hairs will start growing from the next day of hair cut but the grafted hair would not start growing before 3-4 months.

HAIR ANALYSIS

Very interesting question. The Hair analysis is the chemical analysis to measure mineral content etc. of a hair sample usually taken from the back of the neck.. Hair may be considered for retrospective purposes when blood and urine are no longer expected to contain a particular contaminant, typically for a year or less. Its most most widely accepted use in Forensic and environmental Toxicology e.g. detection of Alcohol or drug abuse or for monitoring of these patients treatment. But Hair analysis is worthless for assessing the body's nutritional status or serving as an aid for dietary or supplement recommendations. Some practitioners use this to diagnose wide variety of conditions or even predisposition to certain diseases and not just hair loss.This is on the basis of mineral deficiency heavy metal pollutants, mineral imbalance in the hair. Well the fundamental flaws in Hair Analysis are mineral content can be affected by shampoo, dye bleach etc.; the concentration of minerals do not correlate with that of the hair & it can be affected by the color, diameter and rate of growth of an individual's hair, the season of the year, the geographic location, and the age and gender of the individual. Following link is worth checking: http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/hair.html For majority of hair conditions diagnosis is reached by History, clinical examination and by using dermascopy.