Dr. Komarovsky about the causes of hair loss in children

Parents are confused - the child's hair falls out. What caused this unpleasant phenomenon and what to do? With such questions, mothers and fathers often turn to doctors, including the famous pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky.

Evgeny Olegovich Komarovsky - doctor of the highest category. The pediatrician became known for his detailed and detailed explanations of the essence and methods of treatment of various childhood diseases. He is the leading TV project “School of Doctor Komarovsky”, as well as the author of numerous books written for parents and in an accessible form explaining how to raise a healthy person.

Loss of hair can be observed in children at very different ages, and often it is due to age characteristics. For example, in newborns, the hair only looks like adults, in fact they are weaker, poorly protected from the external environment. And because their loss is considered a normal process of changing the scalp, because they are replaced by stronger curls, with a strong root and a strong structure. Most often, the first hairstyle begins to actively change after a year.

Comment Dr. Komarovsky on the causes of hair loss in children.

If the hair began to fall out in a child after 2 years, and the process is rather intensive, Dr. Komarovsky strongly recommends a complete and thorough examination by a pediatrician. Perhaps the child does not have enough vitamins, or his diet is wrong. There may be hormonal causes of loss, which can only be established under laboratory conditions. Often, hair falls out as a result of damage to the scalp by fungi, with parasitic diseases.

Sometimes falling out, especially at the back of the head, is an indirect sign of rachitis in a baby. But such a diagnosis is not made only for this symptom, it requires the confirmation of specialists.

The reason for the loss of curls can be stress. But this is true mainly for school-age children, especially primary school students.

The most unpleasant causes of hair loss lie in an allergic reaction that injures the roots. According to Komarovsky, this condition is still not fully understood, and therefore it is extremely difficult to deal with such a problem.

If a hair falls out of a baby or a child after a year, do not worry. This is a physiological process that is closely associated with hormonal changes in the growing body. In addition, Komarovsky emphasizes, the baby most often lies in half a year, and therefore the loss of curls on the back of the head is caused by the usual “wiping”. Yevgeny Olegovich advises not to panic about this and not to write down a child with patients with a terrible disease - rickets.

Hair care products are not needed for a child under 3 years old. It is important for parents to remember that children's shampoos should not be “aggressive”, with strong perfumes and irritants. Baby products ideally do not contain alkaline bases and this is different from adults. Komarovsky does not advise you to wash your hair with shampoos every day.Apply these tools should not be more than once a week.

Watch carefully for a child who has just started attending school or Kindergarten. Often, severe stress from such radical changes in a child’s life leads to partial or complete baldness. However, it is temporary. And it can be prevented by providing the child with timely psychological assistance, and simply by creating an atmosphere of friendliness and support.

Many types of loss of hair are accompanied by a deficiency of vitamins in the body. Dr. Komarovsky points out the need to take special children's complexes, which necessarily contain vitamins. BUT, AT, WITH, D and E. Yevgeny Olegovich emphasizes that in no case it is impossible to give adult vitamin complexes to children, their formula does not suit kids. And an overdose of vitamins, especially group A, can also adversely affect the condition of the hair.

A child’s food must contain foods with enough calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron.

On the question of whether it is necessary to cut the hair of a child after a year, Komarovsky replies that this is a private family matter. Hair quality will not affect hair quality.

Komarovsky strongly does not recommend overheating the scalp of the infant, so that later there are no serious problems with the hair. Parents who are used to wrapping up the baby in three hats, then risk a long time to treat baldness in their offspring.

And now Dr. Komarovsky will tell us about rickets and the lack of vitamins as the cause of hair loss.