Alopecias Due to Drugs and Other Skin and Systemic Disorders
January 2015
in “Current problems in dermatology”
TLDR Hair loss can be caused by stress, infections, drugs, and various diseases, with treatment depending on accurate diagnosis.
The chapter from "Alopecias - Practical Evaluation and Management" outlines various drug-induced and systemic causes of alopecia. It explains that telogen effluvium (TE) affects 7% of females in Canada and is often caused by stress, infections, and drugs, with hair loss typically starting 3-4 months post-trigger. Chronic TE, which primarily affects middle-aged women, has less clear causes. Anagen effluvium, usually a result of chemotherapy, is reversible with hair regrowth occurring within 3 months after cessation of treatment. The text also discusses hair loss due to cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, bacterial infections like folliculitis and syphilis, viral infections such as varicella-zoster, and fungal infections like tinea capitis, which can lead to scarring alopecia if untreated. Additionally, the document describes hair loss conditions such as favus, pediculosis capitis, diffuse alopecia in HIV-1 patients, lupus erythematosus, and sarcoidosis, emphasizing the need for accurate diagnosis to inform treatment strategies.
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