Body Trauma and Hair Loss

The first thing that has to be said is that generally body trauma does not cause hair loss by itself. The problem is that the hair loss is normally a side affect of the other related symptoms of the trauma rather than the actual trauma itself. What this means is that the body trauma causes the situation where the hair loss happens. If a person were to experience the body trauma but not experience the side affects of it then it is more than likely that they will not experience the hair loss.

What we mean here by body trauma is damage to the human body and not so much the scalp or hair follicles. This can be in the form of broken bones or wide gashes which require many stitches. The proper definition of body trauma is state of distress that the human body has to endure for short to medium lengths of time. What happens during this process is the production and release of body chemicals such as cortisol and adrenaline. The body also ramps up the body’s metabolism so that reaction times and response times are much faster than normal however if endured for a long time it is extremely exhausting.

It is important to understand that body trauma isn’t just because of any injury that you might have sustained but can also be from any serious medical condition that you have to endure or even after a major surgery. It isn’t uncommon for people to loose their hair after undergoing serious injury or serious operations. A research paper into the reaction of injured soldiers in the Vietnam was indicated that as many as 60% of those with life threatening injuries but were able to be saved experienced hair loss during their recovery times. The exact reason why hair loss occurs after a particularly traumatic incident isn’t known but is simply the body’s reaction to a particularly stressful event.

The main factor that causes hair loss during traumatic periods is mainly the stress that is experienced both by the actual body and mainly the emotional stress experienced. Emotional stress about the current condition has been linked to be one of the main causes of traumatic condition hair loss. What happens is that the emotional stress about the current condition will manifest into other related conditions such as a lack of appetite and lack of sleep/rest which in addition to making the current situation worst will also in itself cause hair loss. In the same study mentioned earlier about the affects of serious injury survivors of the Vietnam War, as many as 80% of the population experienced post traumatic stress syndrome (PTS) which also manifested in hair loss if the situation isn’t contained.

In addition to the emotional stress associated with body trauma, the physical stress is also very real and can cause hair loss too. The hair loss associated with physical stress and trauma can be loosely pinpointed at the development of chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline as mentioned earlier but also how the body responds to pain. Research has indicated that when elevated (more than normally acceptable) levels of pain are present especially for long periods of time the body will respond with the loss of hair from every place in the body. With body trauma there is also a high probability that there will be large losses of blood. Blood contains a lot of iron and as such loss of blood will deplete the body of precious iron reserves which will also cause hair loss.

In all hair loss that is caused by body trauma isn’t as uncommon as most people think. The fact is that most people will experience some level of hair loss if they are subjected to even slight levels of stress and trauma. Its just that with elevated levels of each hair loss will be more pronounced to the point that it become noticeable and a problem.