Lise K

Diagnosis:  Alopecia Areata

Minoxidil is a medication that is licensed by the MHRA (the UK’s medical regulatory body) to treat genetic forms of hair loss (Male Pattern Hair Loss and Female Pattern Hair Loss). Following a large-scale clinical study, a 5% dose of the product was found to prevent hair loss in most cases and regrow hair for many of those people. After treating patients with minoxidil 12.5% for a number of years, many have reported increased results from the use of Belgravia’s high-strength minoxidil cream.

Minoxidil is also known to help other hair loss conditions such as Alopecia Areata, Traction Alopecia and Diffuse Thinning with great success, although unlike for genetic hair loss, there has not been an official clinical study carried out for these conditions. Our hair loss specialists have found minoxidil 12.5% cream to be especially beneficial for patchy hair loss conditions such as mild to moderate Alopecia Areata or Traction Alopecia. This is because the cream can be applied directly to the areas of hair loss without wastage or dripping, which can be a problem with a liquid minoxidil.

If you would like to enquire about the treatments on offer from The Belgravia Centre or arrange a free consultation at our London clinic, please contact us on 0800 077 6666 or message the centre if you are from the UK. For all of those outside of London or the UK, please feel free to complete our online diagnostic form for a home-use treatment programme that can be sent anywhere in the world. You can also view our hair loss success stories, which is the largest collection of its kind in the world and features ‘before and during treatment’ photos and comments written by some of our happy hair loss treatment users.

The Belgravia Centre – The UK’s Leading Hair Loss Clinic

Please Note:  We have updated this success story to include her most recent pictures at month 5 but her comments was written just after month 2 of her treatment.

Paris Zhao

Diagnosis:  Alopecia Areata

19 year-old Amber Jean Rowan first captured the hearts of Irish television viewers in 2009 when she appeared in RTE’s The Model Agent, a reality-style show which sought to find Ireland’s next top supermodel. Though she did not win the contest, she did make it to the final three, out of thousands of young hopefuls who auditioned and took part. But what really stood out was her openness on the show about the hair loss condition she was suffering – Alopecia Areata.

Just 16 at the time, the Dublin model said on the show that, “this has been my private battle, but I wanted to talk about it.”

Revealing to viewers and fellow competitors that she wore a wig, she said, “The Alopecia I have, I don’t have it any more thank god. My hair isn’t falling out any more, it’s all grown back but it’s really short. I’m so happy because I might lose it again in later life but for the next few years, hopefully it will stay. It’s strong but it’s just really short”

She also said that she wasn’t scared about telling her fellow contestants about her condition: “I’ve had it for a few years and I don’t care what people say because there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Inspiring others with Alopecia

Now, three years on, she has spoken to the Herald newspaper about the experience and how she has helped others since.

Today she continues to model, and hopes to act in movies one day, but she told the paper that her time on The Model Agent helped her immensely, while also helping others with their own Alopecia.

“People were coming up on the street saying thank you for talking about it. They were emailing me such gorgeous things,” she said, “It’s the best thing that happened to me.” But despite her bravery at the time, she revealed that she was terrified to talk about it on the show, describing it as, “the elephant in the room for so many people.”

She says that she has helped others to deal with their condition in small ways, for example by recommending good places to get real-hair wigs. Amber also reveals to the Herald that her condition has taught her to relax a little more in life: “It’s about taking more time for myself – just saying ‘this is Amber time’”

Dealing with Alopecia Areata

Alopecia Areata can often be triggered by stress from a variety of different sources, for example, embarking on a modelling career, struggling financially, or going through a tough relationship break-up.

When stress is the likely culprit, the first and foremost thing to do is to take steps to reduce the amount of stress in your life, as Amber seems to have done. It is entirely possible to re-grow hair lost through Alopecia with treatments such as minoxidil 12.5% cream, which is formulated by the Belgravia pharmacy. To find out more, take a look at some of the success stories on our website, or contact us for a consultation. Alternatively fill in our online diagnostic form for a home-use treatment programme that can be sent anywhere in the world.

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The study found that more than 70 percent of those suffering hair loss in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had undergone treatment for it without first being diagnosed with a specific hair loss condition.

This statistic suggests that many people may be undergoing hair loss treatments which are inappropriate and ineffective for them. At best, this may mean wasted time and money, but at worst there may be other unpleasant side effects from the treatment, particularly with invasive treatments such as hair transplants.

One of the study’s authors, Dr Dimitrios Ziakas, said that proper diagnosis and evaluation was, “as crucial as doing a blood test before surgery. Doctors in the UAE shouldn’t underestimate the importance of right diagnosis. Even if patients don’t ask for proper diagnosis, it is the doctor’s duty as the health of the patient is at risk.”

Aside from health and safety implications for the patient, an accurate and thorough diagnosis is essential in order to determine which hair loss treatments will be the most effective in preventing further hair loss and triggering re-growth.

Types of hair loss

There are a number of different types of hair loss which men and women can suffer from, and identifying which one is afflicting you is the important first step to combating your hair loss.

Male Pattern Baldness

A genetic form of hair loss, Male Pattern Baldness is known scientifically as Androgenetic Alopecia. It has been estimated that half of all men in the UK will suffer from this condition to some extent by the time they are fifty. Male Pattern Baldness is triggered by a genetic susceptibility to the naturally produced chemical dihydrotestosterone (DHT). In those who have the gene, this DHT causes follicles, and their corresponding hair shafts, to gradually shrink leading to a receding hairline. This is one of the most treatable conditions and if the right combination of treatments is used, can produce in magnificent results. Be careful though, as there are many treatments on the market that will not help.

Female Pattern Hair Loss

In Female Pattern Hair Loss hair loss is experienced as  a generalised thinning, but a similar number of females are affected by their 50th birthday as are men with Male Pattern Baldness. Again, this form of female hair thinning can be treated with great success.

Alopecia Areata

Alopecia Areata often presents itself as patchy hair loss on the scalp, but in some cases it can become more widespread, resulting in total baldness (Alopecia Totalis), or even loss of all body hair (Alopecia Universalis). The exact cause remains unknown but it is thought to be triggered by stress and trauma. The condition can be treated with success in its mild to moderate stages, but a hair transplant would not be suitable for this form of hair loss.

Telogen Effluvium

In Telogen Effluvium, stress is also a common factor, and it can also be triggered by child birth. Hair loss occurs because a larger number of hair follicles than usual enter the resting (telogen) phase of the growth cycle. The hair loss is often not noticed until several months after the event or stress that caused it.

Traction Alopecia

Traction Alopecia, unlike most other hair loss conditions, is completely avoidable. It is caused by constant pulling and excess strain on the hair follicles. This may occur as a result of tightly-worn hairstyles such as braids or pony tails, regular wearing of hair extensions, or over-processing with dyes, bleaches and other styling products.

Other hair loss conditions

The above are the most common forms of hair loss which people suffer from, but there are others, such as Pseudopelade, Lupus and Follicular Degeneration Syndrome. Hair loss may also occur as a symptom of more serious and widespread illnesses, such as thyroid disorders.

Diagnosis and treatment at The Belgravia Centre

At The Belgravia Centre, the first thing we do is diagnose the hair loss condition which you are suffering from. This enables our hair loss experts to select the most effective and appropriate treatments and lifestyle changes which are specifically suitable for you.

Our treatments include a mix of pharmaceutical, clinical and supportive methods. We use scientifically proven treatments, such as Propecia and Minoxidil, in conjunction with other hair growth boosters which we have found to be effective time and time again. Both Propecia and Minoxidil are licensed by the MHRA.

To find out for yourself the wide variety of hair loss conditions we treat on a daily basis, and the level of success we achieve with our treatments, take a look at some of the hair loss success stories on our website – it is the largest collection of its kind in the world and is updated on a daily basis.

To arrange a diagnosis for your hair loss condition contact us today for a consultation with no obligation. Even if you live far away from our London clinic, the UAE for example, you can simply fill in our online diagnostic form to receive a home use treatment programme.

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January

•    A source close to actress Carey Mulligan revealed that she was taking a hair supplement after suffering hair loss due to bleaching while starring opposite Johnny Depp in Public Enemies.
•    Fiery TV chef Gordon Ramsay revealed that he had undergone an expensive hair transplant procedure.
•    Gail Porter shaves her hair into a Mohawk following a reoccurrence of her Alopecia Areata.

February

•    Colleen Rooney was photographed by the press with a suspected thinning patch. This was it seem a sign of things to come, with all signs pointing to a case of styling-induced Traction Alopecia.
•    Paparazzi catch a rare glimpse of John Travolta’s Male Pattern Baldness when he is pictured in Hawaii without his weave.

March

•    The Daily Mail speculates on whether Nicholas Cage has undergone hair loss treatment for his receding hairline.
•    Following an earlier hair transplant, actor James Nesbitt reveals that re-growing his hair, “changed my life.”
•    Strictly Come Dancing judge Jason Gardiner reveals the results of a particularly expensive £22,000 hair transplant.

April

•    Lady Gaga talks about her struggle with Traction Alopecia after excessive bleaching and colouring. It is later claimed that she is using hair loss treatment Minoxidil to re-grow her hair.
•    In the run-up to the royal wedding, a commemorative coin raises eyebrows when it portrays Prince William with much fuller hair than usual. His hair is as big a talking point before the wedding as bridesmaid Pippa Middleton’s derrière is afterwards.
•    Nigella Lawson pictured in the ever-vigilant Daily Mail with thinning hair due to Female Pattern Hair Loss.

May

•    DJ Chris Evans reveals that an undisclosed brand of hair growth pills worked too well for him, turning him into a ‘hairy cornflake’.
•    Ryan Giggs is in the news, and not for the first time, when it is claimed that he is undergoing hair loss treatments for Male Pattern Hair Loss.

June

•    Wayne Rooney has a hair transplant, costing a rumoured £32,000, and kicking off the year’s biggest and most frequently recurring hair loss treatment story.
•    An entirely different Chris Evans (this one the thirty year-old star of Captain America) reveals that he is losing his hair to Male Pattern Baldness. His biggest worry is that, “Captain America is supposed to be like this superior human being. He can’t be balding.”

July

•    Rapper Missy Elliot speaks publically about her battle with Graves Disease, a thyroid disorder which leads to hair loss, fatigue, weight loss and tremors.
•    Former Eastenders actor Jimi Mistry tells how the pressures of fame led to him suffering from Alopecia.
•    Maureen Nolan reveals she suffered hair loss when going through the Menopause.

August

•    Wayne Rooney is pictured with greying hair – an apparent side-effect of his hair transplant.
•    David Beckham is the subject of a hair loss non-story, when the media publish pictures which apparently show a bald patch on the back of his head. Closer inspection reveals it to be caused by a camera malfunction.

September

•    LA ink star Kat Von D is alleged to be suffering from stress-related hair loss.

October

•    As Amanda Knox is acquitted following a long period in an Italian prison, appears to have suffered from hair loss caused by stress.
•    Seinfeld star Jason Alexander shows off a surprisingly full head of hair, thanks to a “semi-permanent hairpiece.”
•    Gary Barlow is photographed with thinning hair around his crown, the results of Male Pattern Baldness.

November

•    Serena Williams pictured with bald patch, which may be caused by Traction Alopecia.
•    Comedian Harry Hill makes a joke of his baldness, by briefly wearing a blonde wig on the Jonathan Ross Show.
•    Wayne Rooney’s use of Propecia rumoured to have helped his on-pitch performance.

December

•    Hollywood actress Selma Blair suffers from post-partum hair loss after giving birth.
•    The Daily Mail reports that Hangover star and heartthrob Bradley Cooper “may be succumbing to a rapidly receding hairline.”
•    Louis Walsh becomes the latest celebrity to have a hair transplant.

If you are suffering from hair loss and want to do something about it sooner, rather than later, contact a specialist at The Belgravia Centre to find out exactly what can be done to prevent hair loss and regrow your hair. To see how successful a specially tailored treatment programme for hair loss can be, view the world’s largest collection of hair loss success stories, all from the use of The Belgravia Centre’s combination treatment courses.

For those unable to visit our Central London clinic, fill in our online diagnostic form to receive a home-use treatment programme that can be sent to you wherever you are in the world, be it Birmingham or Brazil.

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That is however exactly what a team of Japanese dermatologists say can happen following a bout of swine flu. The team from Hamamatsu University School of Medicine say that they have found a link between the disease and hair loss, following their studies on seven people who began losing hair within months of suffering from the flu.

While the sample size studied by the team is relatively small, their conclusions fit with accepted known facts about the hair loss condition Alopecia Areata, which are that it can be triggered by a particularly severe or prolonged period of illness.

The research, which took place between 2009 and 2010, found that the seven people, four of whom had previously suffered from Alopecia, suffered hair loss between one and a half months and three months after recovering from swine flu. All of those who experienced subsequent hair loss suffered from a fever while ill.

Nannette Silverberg, the director of pediatric and adolescent dermatology at a New York hospital told Fox News that the results of the study were, “very plausible,” and that people who have suffered from Alopecia Areata before should think about getting a vaccination against the H1N1 swine flu virus.

What is Alopecia Areata?

Alopecia Areata is an auto-immune disorder in which the body’s own natural defences mistake the hair follicles as foreign bodies, and so attack them. This results in the follicles becoming damaged or even destroyed, leading to the cessation of hair growth, and hair shedding. In many cases this is confined to patchy hair loss on the scalp, but it can progress to result in total baldness (Alopecia Totalis) of the scalp, or even the loss of all hair on the body (Alopecia Universalis).

The exact causes of Alopecia remain unknown but it is widely thought to be caused by stress, trauma and by severe illness, as this recent study shows. In many cases the condition is only temporary and the hair loss corrects itself naturally, but sometimes it can persist for longer, and even become permanent.

Help for hair loss in winter’s wonderland

If you’ve suffered from the flu or another severe illness or viral attack this winter, and have later noticed hair loss, then it may well be Alopecia Areata. Your first step should be to seek diagnosis from a GP or dermatologist. If you then need further help to re-grow your hair then The Belgravia Centre can help.

Our hair loss experts have dealt with many cases of Alopecia Areata, as well as other hair loss conditions such as Male Pattern Baldness, Female Pattern Hair Loss and Alopecia Areata.  We can work with you to identify and wherever possible negate the root cause of the hair loss, and then carry out a range of hair loss treatments to restore your hair to full health. View our collection of Hair Loss Success Stories to get an idea of the kind of results achieved by so many of Belgravia’s hair loss treatment users.

To find out more, contact us for a free consultation with no obligation, or fill in our online diagnostic form to receive a home use treatment programme that can be sent to you anywhere in the world whether it be winter or summer in your part of the world.

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The Belgravia Centre is open over the festive period for new and existing clients, so why not book an appointment today? We are open:

Saturday 24th Dec – Christmas Eve -  open 9am until 3pm
Sunday 25th Dec – Christmas Day – closed
Monday 26th Dec – Boxing Day – closed
Tuesday 27th Dec – Bank holiday – open 10am until 6pm
Wednesday 28th Dec - Normal hours 9am until 8pm
Thursday 29th Dec – Normal hours 9am until 8pm
Friday 30th Dec – Normal hours 9am until 6pm
Saturday 31st Dec New Year’s Eve – open 9am until 3pm
Sunday 1st Jan – New Year’s Day – Closed
Monday 2nd Jan – Bank holiday – open 10am until 6pm

We resume normal operations from Tuesday 3rd January.

So don’t delay – contact us and book your appointment now ready for a New Year and a new hair line.

You’ve probably never heard of a young woman named Iu, but in her native South Korea she’s a big deal indeed. Think Britney Spears meets Mariah Carey meets Adele and you’re getting there (and if you’re genuinely curious you can view her latest video at the bottom of this story.

With a photogenic smile, and a number of music awards and number ones already under her belt at the age of just eighteen, IU would appear to have the world at her feet (or at least the Korean-speaking part of it). But as is so often the case, the price of success and fame rarely comes cheap.

Teenage singer’s bald spot

The singer told Korean national newspaper Sports Donga that while she was making her second album, ‘Last Fantasy’, she discovered, “a coin-sized bald spot on my head.”

She attributes this hair loss to the pressure and stress that she put she herself under while creating the album, going on to comment, “To be honest I suffered from a headache maybe because I was always trying to bear this and that. And in the end, one coin-sized hole of my bare skin appeared on my head.”

The hair loss she suffered appears to be a classic case of Alopecia Areata, a hair loss condition which can be brought on by stress. Alopecia is a disorder of the auto-immune system in which the body’s natural defences mistakenly attack healthy hair follicles, causing them to cease producing new hair, at least temporarily. This can result in ‘coin-sized’ bald patches as experienced by Iu, but in more serious cases it can lead to total loss of all hair from the scalp (Alopecia Totalis), or even the whole body, including eyebrows (Alopecia Universalis).

In many case Alopecia is only temporary, and it is believed that her hair has since re-grown. What’s more, the stress and effort appears to have been worth it, as her album has shot to the top ofKorean pop charts. For some though, Alopecia is a much more serious and long-lasting problem, as has been the case for troubled British TV presenter Gail Porter.

Treatment for Alopecia at The Belgravia Centre

Of course you don’t have to have the bright lights of fame and success on you to suffer stress-related hair loss, and many people suffer it as a result of life’s everyday turmoils, such as problems at work, relationship troubles and illness.

If you think you may be suffering from a case of Alopecia then the hair loss experts at The Belgravia Centre can help in cases of mild to moderate, patchy Alopecia. For further information contact us for a consultation with no obligation. Alternatively, fill in our online diagnostic form to receive a treatment programme which can be shipped anywhere in the world, including South Korea.

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Australian actress, comedian, and former hair model, Georgia Van Cuylenburg went through all of these stages, and as she reveals in a surprisingly candid article over at the Huffington Post, it eventually made her stronger.

She describes how important her hair was to her, and how at 18 she became a hair model for a famous salon – “my hair became even more the thing that I identified as ME. I was now officially ‘the girl with the great hair.’”

By the age of 21, she had moved to Los Angeles and had a burgeoning career as an actress, working on shows for children. It was at that point that Alopecia changed her life.

‘My life changed forever’

“One typical Wednesday, as I stood in the shower, I watched as hundreds of my ‘great hairs’ washed down my body. As I rubbed the shampoo through my hair, clumps fell out in my hands,” she says. Georgia goes on to describe how as she, “brushed and brushed I watched my clear white sink fill up with hair. I remember seeing myself in the mirror and holding back the tears. That day my life changed forever.”

After visiting a doctor, she was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata, a hair loss condition which is due to a disorder of the auto-immune system. The exact causes are not known, but in many cases it is suspected that stress and trauma are initiating factors. In Alopecia sufferers, the body’s own defences mistakenly attack healthy hair follicles, causing them to cease producing hair. The degree to which hair is lost can vary, and ranges from patchy hair loss on the scalp, to total scalp hair loss (Alopecia Totalis) and the loss of all hair from the body, including eyebrows (Alopecia Universalis).

In some cases hair loss treatments can help with the condition but Georgia admits to trying everything to remedy her condition, to little avail.

Choosing not to hide

After spending a year hiding her hair loss, which she describes as the “toughest year of my life,” she eventually decided to make a change, to see Alopecia as, “an amazing gift.” Her new perspective on her hair loss spurred her on to not only be open about her hair loss, but to share her story, particularly with children, and led to her creating a documentary about Alopecia and her experiences of it, called ‘Baby Let your Hair Hang Down’.

She hopes that her story will inspire others with Alopecia, and it would seem that her experiences in making the film and embracing her condition have changed her too. “I learned to trust I was good enough as I was,” she says, “that it was the essential me that people responded to – with or without hair.”

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