anagen effluvium - Health Topics
Anagen effluvium is a temporary type of hair loss that happens when something disrupts the growth phase of your hair. It’s most common after chemotherapy, but can also follow radiation or toxin exposure. What is anagen effluvium?
Understanding the Context
Anagen effluvium refers to hair shedding that arises during the anagen or growth stage of the hair cycle. This is in contrast to telogen effluvium or hair shedding that arises during the telogen or resting stage of the hair cycle. Anagen effluvium is due to an acute injury to the hair follicles by an endogenous or exogenous cause, resulting in sudden diffuse shedding of structurally damaged hairs. Anagen effluvium is a form of nonscarring alopecia commonly associated with chemotherapy.
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Key Insights
As part of chemotherapy, antimetabolites, alkylating agents, and mitotic inhibitors can cause anagen effluvium, which is also known as chemotherapy-induced alopecia. Anagen effluvium is the abrupt loss of hairs that are in their growing phase (anagen) due to an event that impairs the mitotic or metabolic activity of hair follicle. Below, we will cover some more details about anagen effluvium including what can cause it, how it differs from Telogen Effluvium shedding, how long it can last, ways to potentially reduce its extent, and the treatment options. In anagen effluvium, sudden loss of growing hairs is caused by abnormal cessation of the anagen phase from medications, radiation, or infections. This occurs most commonly in cancer patients who are treated with radiation or systemic chemotherapy, especially cytotoxic agents.
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Discover the causes, symptoms, and treatment options for anagen effluvium. Learn how it is diagnosed and ways to prevent hair loss. Anagen effluvium mirrors telogen effluvium’s diffuse hair loss but develops much more rapidly and can lead to complete hair loss. This condition often arises in people taking cytostatic drugs for cancer treatment or those exposed to toxic substances like rat poison. Anagen effluvium is a type of hair loss that occurs when actively growing hairs are damaged by a harmful substance or inflammation, causing the hair to break. It can be caused by chemotherapy, lack of proteins and energy in the body, skin diseases, hair loss conditions, and severe metal poisoning.