More Hair Loss Woes For Lady Gaga?

She's made few public appearances in recent weeks due to her health and was forced to postpone her tour after an injury left her in a wheelchair, but rumours are circulating that there may be another reason for Lady Gaga keeping behind closed doors. According to a certain newspaper, the star was seen at a Hollywood club looking tired and sporting a platinum blonde bob, suggesting that she may be experiencing hair loss that has necessitated a short style.

A Bleaching Good Time

Lady Gaga has previously spoken out about a history of "borderline lupus," an autoimmune disorder which can cause hair loss. After having to pull out of her tour in February due to synovitis, a chronic condition which causes joints to swell and which is linked to lupus, Gaga has kept a low profile, could this be due to hair loss?

The Born This Way singer had previously told People magazine that her hair falls out due to how much she colours it, and the star has certainly oscillated between hair colours during her career. However, whilst dying hair can cause it to break much more easily than it normally would, it doesn't generally result in hair loss by itself, and ceasing to dye it should mean that all new growth is healthy.

Lupus And Lady Gaga

So, could Lupus be the reason behind Gaga's hair loss? The disorder, the cause of which remains unknown, occurs when antibodies are produced against the body's own cells.

In this respect it is similar to the other hair loss condition alopecia areata, however whereas with alopecia areata antibodies are produced specifically for components within the hair follicle, with Lupus the antibodies can attack our basic genetic material and substances found within the nuclei of all cell types in the body.

Hair loss as a result of Lupus can be permanent as a result of scarring of the hair follicle. However, this is not always the case and the hair loss can increase and decrease as the severity of the disorder changes; there can also be long periods of no hair loss. There can also, in some cases, be spontaneous remission from Lupus.

Whilst we are unable to treat hair loss from Lupus, hair transplants can in some cases be used to cover small areas of hair loss and scarring. Otherwise, treatments for Lupus can often involve immuno-suppressants such as corticosteroids.