The $5 Million Hair Loss Case

An American lawyer has just launched a massive law suit against the owners of a gym after he claims their pool triggered a severe case of hair loss. Robert Prignoli is seeking $5 million in damages claiming that “toxic pool water” caused skin rashes, eye irritation, headaches, and temporary loss of taste and smell in addition to hair loss.
Clearly Mr. Prignoli has been left distressed by his experiences, but is it likely that a swimming pool could have caused so many problems?

Chlorine-related hair loss?

The most common cause of hair loss associated with swimming pools is down to a chemical imbalance in the water. If the water becomes contaminated, the pH levels can rise beyond their legal limit, causing problems for swimmers including skin and eye irritations and hair loss. This happened in a Californian high school swimming pool last year.
Chlorinated water is also known to damage hair, causing discolouration similar to bleaching. The hair of people who swim regularly tends to appear more coarse than the hair of their non-swimming counterparts.
There is also some anecdotal evidence to suggest that the skin irritation reported by some people after swimming in chlorinated pools can also affect the scalp. Because the scalp plays a crucial role in healthy hair growth, such irritation could have a disruptive effect, potentially resulting in some hair loss. Scratching an itchy scalp could also accelerate hair loss in some cases.

What does the future hold for Mr. Prignoli?

Despite Mr. Prignoli’s apparent extreme reaction to the pool water, there have not yet been any claims from other swimmers about similar effects. It is not impossible that the swimming pool in question could have caused some or all of the problems he alleges in his lawsuit, especially if it is proved that the water had become contaminated.
The good news, however, is that any hair loss caused by extreme pH levels in the water should resolve itself over time. By staying away from swimming pools for a few weeks and taking a little extra care with a good shampoo and conditioner, Mr. Prignoli should find that the lost hair replaces itself.
However to ensure that he is doing everything possible to regrow the lost hair, Mr. Prignoli should seek expert assistance at his earliest opportunity. In doing so, he will receive a proper diagnosis of his hair loss condition which will also help to explain whether the pool in question really was at fault, or whether he is suffering from a genetic form of hair loss, which is the most common reason for hair loss in men.