Traction alopecia is a common hair loss condition that affects those who excessively style their hair. From models to actors, traction alopecia is very common among A-Listers who have to constantly be looking neat.
It’s also present among people who compulsively and repeatedly pull their hair. Regardless of what got your here, if you apply any pulling force constantly, your hair will begin to thin.
Once you realize the damage, it’ll be overwhelming. But depending on how bad your case is, your treatment will vary.
Read along to learn more about traction alopecia, causes, & treatments.
1.What Is Traction Alopecia?
Traction alopecia is a hair loss condition that results from excessive pulling either from styling or physical force. The consistent application of physical force encourages hair loss. If this doesn’t stop, traction alopecia then becomes more severe. Where your hair follicles are likely to continue shrinking until they completely close off.
This makes traction alopecia neither a temporary nor a permanent condition. Because the severity of the condition is entirely in your hands. The sooner you quit damaging habits and replace them with healthy hate care, the easier you can claim your hair.
2.Symptoms Of Traction Alopecia
Traction alopecia has its own set of symptoms. Where the hairs affected by pulling and tension are the ones that will fall off.
Symptoms include:
- Appearance of bumps
- Redness on the scalp
- Folliculitis
- Scaling
These symptoms will appear in the affected areas specifically.
3.Prevention Tips
To prevent traction alopecia you need to be very gentle with your hair. Make sure when your hair is up in a bun or a ponytail that it is loose. Avoid wearing weaves and extensions that can pull at your hair. When braiding your hair make sure the braids aren’t tight.
Similarly, avoid excess heat and hairstyles that require heat. Avoid hair relaxers and hair chemicals altogether. Avoid sleeping in rollers or keeping hair accessories for long periods of time.
Your hair needs to breathe and needs to rest to grow.
4.Can Traction Alopecia Be Reversed?
The treatment for your traction alopecia relies entirely on you. But regardless of how late you’ve decided to tackle treatment, traction alopecia is nearly always reversible.
But the treatment plan is a matter of time and how soon you intervene once you notice symptoms.
Typically if you seek help once you notice symptoms of traction alopecia, your hair growth will likely be restored naturally. In fact, with as little as letting your hair rest, you can see significant changes. But you can encourage growth using PRP hair treatment. This treatment is ideal for hair and works even better than minoxidil. Either treatment is effective though and would give your hair the boost it needs.
But more severe cases will need a little more effort which we’ll discuss below.
5.Traction Alopecia Cure
Regardless of the treatment plan, cure begins by you quitting damaging habits. The treatment plan for traction alopecia splits into two. One for permanent traction alopecia and another for temporary traction alopecia.
The cure to traction alopecia that is severe and likely permanent, is a hair transplant. Most hairstyles typically apply tension to the hairline and crown. So balding usually affects these areas which are critical to your appearance.
In permanent traction alopecia, there is no way you can claim the hair you lost naturally. But what you can do with hair transplantation is redistribute your hair. So instead of having specific areas or baldness, your doctor extracts hair follicles from various areas of your scalp and implants them into the balding areas.
This fills up the bald areas without affecting the rest of your hair. This traction alopecia cure has many advantages which include:
- Permanent results
- Natural-looking appeal
The results of a hair transplant are long-lasting and natural-looking. You can do what you want with your hair after a hair transplant.
As for temporary hair loss, consider hair stimulating treatments like minoxidil and PRP.
The Takeaway
Of you suspect you have traction alopecia the first thing you should do is visit your dermatologist. Get your diagnosis and then start considering your options for treatment. The sooner you intervene the faster you can reverse your traction alopecia. It also wouldn’t take a lot to reverse the early in the early stages.
But it wouldn’t hurt to give your hair a push with PRP or minoxidil. It helps your hair recover faster. Particularly PRP since it contains growth factors.
As for permanent traction alopecia, your option is hair transplantation. No side effects & no scarring. Redistribute your hair to cover up the hair loss without affecting the appearance of your hair.
Whatever you opt for, make sure you quit and never pick up damaging habits. This is essential to maintaining the results of treatment. Nothing can completely avoid traction alopecia. And you resuming with bad habits will bring back the condition.
Contact Us For Free Consultation
Vera Clinic is leading hair transplantation and hair restoration center. We are focused on diagnosing and treating hair loss conditions.
If you suspect you have traction alopecia, contact us. Our medical specialists will diagnose you and offer you a personalized treatment plan.
If you have permanent traction alopecia, have a look at the hair transplant costs all around the world. Medical tourism can help you save a lot of money for high-quality treatments. A hair transplant in Turkey is a popular option. Particularly since hair transplants in the UK and the USA can be very expensive.