Wednesday, 8 April 2015

Hair Loss - Role of Serum ferritin

Hair loss is one of the major issues peoples are concerned about affecting millions of peoples around the world. Losing hair is a stressfull experience on daily basis. hair loss in a tender age indicates that person is sick or just not eating right. hair is human barometer indicates the nutritional status of body.

one of the main reasons for hair loss is nutritional deficiency with depleted Iron stores. the RDA (Recommended daily allowance) for Iron is 15 mg for women and 18 mg for men.




Ferritn is a protein that stores Iron in the body . the serum ferritin level is directly proportional to the amount of stored Iron in the body

Iron deficiency  is defined as having a ferritin level of undr 40 ng/ml or iron percent saturation under 20%.

Serum ferritin concentrations of 40 ng/ml or greater are required for maintaining good hair while 70 ng/ml is required regrowth management  of hair loss.

in general you ca loose iron by intestinal bleeding , excessive menstrual bleeding  (during one period, a woman will lose around 10 -15 mg of iron, while throughout a pregnancy around 600 -1000 mg will be lost) poor digestion, long-term illness , ulcers , and heavy use of antacids.

The loss of this ferritin from the follicle cells can affect the ability of the hair to grow. This leads to the development of vellus (non pigmented fine hairs),  which can be an early indication of deficiency. The presence of vellus hairs is easily mistaken for miniaturized hair seen in androgenic alopecia. We should note here that Iron deficiency hair loss could therefore mimic the pattern of androgenic alopecia hair loss.

It is interesting to know that serum ferritin levels are independent of haemoglobine ,  a standard measure for Iron in the blood. A person can have plenty of haemoglobin and yet suffer from low serum ferritin levels.

If Iron levels are insufficient to maintain blood health , our body robs iron from the other cells since hair is not as essential  to the body as is blood , our body often sacrifices the less important function of hair growth for essential function of blood maintainace.

when low serum ferritin levels and hair loss coexist , the patients is most likely diagnosed with chronic telogen effluvium.
this condition mostly occurs in women of child bearing age basically because of menstruation and pregnancy , which results in evenly distributed hair loss or diffuse hair loss.

This hair loss condition usually occurs in women of childbearing age (18-50 years old), and results in evenly-distributed hair loss. Women with low serum ferritin hair loss usually notice one of two things:

  • Increased loss of Hair during shampooing or brushing
  • Less density of hair , as in a thinner feeling ponytail, or less hair to clip back.

other causes of telogen effluvium include illness , major physical trauma  , menopause , crash diets , severe psycological stress , major surgery , hypo/hyperthyroidism , anemia's , acute and severe blood loss , heavy metal poisoning . chronic diseases such as malignancy , and any chronic debilitating illness such as systemic lupus erythematous ,  end stage renal disease or liver disease can cause telogen effluvium.

Iron is stored mainly in the liver , within the iron storage proteins ferritin and haemosiderin.  Iron stimulates the liver to make ferritin, and serum ferritin provides a reliable estimate of body iron stores.

In chronic Telogen Effluvium there is feeling of pain in hair root , where the hair feel like it is being pricked by needles or pulled , this is called Trichodynia.


How it can be  Prevented :

Diet rich in Iron is most neccessary to recover serum ferritin. alongwith Iron rich diet vitamin C supplementation is neccessary as vit C helps proper absorption of iron from the intestines.

Sources of Iron Rich Food :  Red meat , Liver , Tofu , spinach , dates , jaggery , beetroot , figs , brocoli , kidney beans ,  egg yolk , green leafy vagetables with food rich in vitamin C.

Iron supplementation pills with protein and calcium rich diet is helpfull to eliminate the problem.





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