ALOPECIA: HERBAL REMEDIES

Alopecia is the medical term for hair loss or baldness. It is a health condition in which hair is lost from some or all areas of the body, usually from the scalp. Hair loss can be caused due to different reasons, such as genetic tendencies, environmental triggers, exposure to chemicals, medicines, nutritional deficiency, extreme stress or long illness etc. On the basis of hair loss pattern and causes, alopecia is classified into several categories. The two major forms i.e. Alopecia areata and Androgenetic alopecia are of main concern. At present a number of synthetic remedies like Corticosteroids, dithranol, tretinoin, minoxidil, zinc, systematic Cortisone, irritants, immuno-suppressive drugs, finasteride, azelaic acid are available for the treatment of Alopecia (both Androgenetic and Areata), but not a single or multiple drug therapy is giving satisfactory and permanent results to the Alopecia patients. Besides, a number of side effects are associated with the use of these synthetic compounds, including erythema, scaling, pruritis, dermatitis, itching, etc. So to cope with the problem of Hair loss, here we have looked into the Nature’s treasure and found a number of herbs with proven records for the treatment of alopecia. Nutritional support, DHT blockers and 5-α-Reductase blockers, Aromatherapy and improved scalp blood circulation are the proposed mechanisms of action for these herbal remedies. Being natural drugs there are many advantages of using them like patient compliance, less side-effects, easy availability, low-cost and more than one mode of action for treatment of Alopecia.