Does diabetes cause hair loss?

Imagine: If you see your hair falling out when you’re already stressed because of diabetes? Yes, diabetes. Diabetes is a demanding disease and we know it very well. There are several reasons for which diabetes can affect an individual’s physical and mental health. The never-ending demands of diabetes care, such as eating carefully, exercising, and monitoring blood glucose, scheduling and planning can be stressful for a person dealing with the disease. On top of it, the sight of losing hair will make you more anxious and worried about your appearance as well as overall physical health. You might fall prey to several hair fall treatment options available in the market. Still, you see your pretty locks falling from your head! Why does this happen? Let us find out.

Diabetes has many ill effects on the sufferer’s body. People with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes are at a much higher risk than the rest of the general population for damage to the eyes, kidney, nerves, heart and blood vessels. Another less known consequence of diabetes is hair loss.

There are many reasons that explain the link between diabetes and hair loss:

• Hormonal Imbalance:

  Diabetes brings about hormonal imbalance in the sufferer’s body. These hormonal changes may be manifested through hair loss. This also explains the reasons behind hair loss during pregnancy and menopause.

  Also Read: Meno-Pause and Hair Loss in Women

• Poor circulation:

  Diabetes negatively affects the body’s circulatory system. This means that less amount of nutrients and oxygen reach the upper and the lower extremities of the body i.e. the feet and the scalp areas. If diabetes is causing poor blood circulation to the scalp, the hair follicles will die resulting in hair loss. Furthermore, this poor circulation may result in the prevention of further hair growth. So not only is diabetes causing the loss of your current hair, it is also preventing the growth of new hair.

• Mental Stress:

  Diabetes is associated with high levels of stress, which has long been reputed to be the main culprit behind hair loss. So if modern day hurry and worry plague you, hair fall control is bit difficult.

  Also Read: Stress and Hair Loss

• Medications:

  Drugs that are used to treat diabetes may also lead to hair loss. If you feel that particular regimens are causing distressful hair loss, then consult your doctor to get your prescription modified.

• Infection of the scalp:

  Diabetes may weaken the immune system. making it susceptible to other diseases. This weakened immunity may lead to scalp conditions like ringworm or other fungal diseases which in turn may cause hair loss.

• Presence of systemic illnesses or local diseases:

  Autoimmune diseases such as skin rashes and thyroid dysfunctions can be part and parcel of suffering from diabetes and these diseases are known to cause massive hair loss.

Besides the conditions as mentioned above, hair loss may also happen as telogen effluvium in diabetic patients. Now, you may ask, what is telogen effluvium? Telogen effluvium is a condition that causes hair thinning and hair loss from all over the scalp. Hair loss is usually caused by a certain stressor or triggering factor that leads the hair to prematurely enter the resting phase and, thereafter, shed. This may sometimes occur even within three to six months after the initial stressor. The stressor could be anything like a physiological stress or hormonal change for e.g. diabetes causes hormonal changes in an individual which may act as a trigger to your hair loss condition.

Hence, if you notice excessive hair loss from your scalp, it is very important that you seek immediate medical assistance. Since hair loss can cause untold trauma, lack of self esteem, and social anxiety, it is also advisable to visit a trichologist and get an expert’s opinion about your condition. He/she may diagnose your condition and find out the hidden cause of your hair loss, which may or may not diabetes in your case. In case, you are losing hair due to diabetes, there is a permanent solution to your hair loss problem. You can take help of homeopathy to treat and manage both the conditions.