Q: I was suffering from Fungal (PO BELL) infection on the scalp 2 months back. Due to which my hair started falling rapidly. The doctor gave me medicines and suggested to apply the anti ketombe shampoo on the scalp daily. The doctor also suggested me to take yeast, almonds and raisins in the diet. After 2 months of treatment, my fungal infection is totally gone from the scalp. But my hair is falling continuously, despite all efforts, I am unable to control hair fall. What should I do to stop hair fall? Any medicine?

A:Hair loss is a normal physiologic process in humans. Approximately 100 hairs are lost per day. It becomes pathological only when large numbers of hairs are lost or is associated with local changes. In children, hair loss is mostly congenital; hence, treatment options are limited. In elderly, it is of less concern to the patient. But in adults, it causes considerable discomfort, impairs the quality of life and majority are treatable. Recording patients history (sudden or gradual hair loss, association with an event in life, history of drug intake or medical illness), clinical examination (whether the process is patchy or diffuse, what areas are affected, whether the hair pull removes a lot of strands or only a few, what type of fibre is affected, differentiating non-scarring alopecia from scarring alopecia, follicular process versus non-follicular process) and some technological investigations make up the three-pronged approach usually necessary for diagnosis. Diffuse hair loss can be broadly grouped into telogen hair loss or anagen hair loss. Telogen hair loss causes are: acute telogen effluvium, telogen gravidarum, chronic telogen effluvium, malnutrition/malabsorption, hypo/hyperthyroidism, iron deficiency, zinc deficiency, drug induced, hepatic failure, chronic renal failure, advanced malignancy, syphilis, diffuse alopecia areata or early androgenetic alopecia. Angen hair loss is due to: anagen effluvium, drugs, radiotherapy or poisoning. So to arrive at diagnosis a set of investigations with history facts are taken into account and then treatment initiated.