Diseases of the scalp provoke the appearance of internal discomfort in a person. After all, their development leads to hair loss, early and rapid baldness, to the occurrence of difficult-to-remove dandruff and dermatological pathologies.
Sometimes people themselves are looking for different ways to restore curls. However, as a rule, all these efforts do not lead to the desired result. This makes the problem worse.
In order to get rid of the disease of the scalp and hair, you will need to contact a trichologist anyway. This specialist will identify the main cause of the deterioration in the patient's he alth and select the necessary course of therapy.
Causes of diseases
Very often, the occurrence of dermatological diseases is promoted by a violation in the blood supply to the hair follicles, as well as dysfunction of the glands of the sebaceous secretion. Such malfunctions in the work of the body occur in the presence of a variety of factors, namely due to:
- heredity, which determines the type of functioning and structure of skin elements;
- hormonal imbalance (especially estrogenand androgens) and pathologies of the endocrine glands;
- unstable functioning of the autonomic NS;
- frequently occurring stressful situations, as well as long-term psycho-emotional stress;
- certain ailments such as epilepsy, schizophrenia and manic depression;
- violations of the body's metabolic processes, lack of trace elements (magnesium, zinc, selenium), vitamins E, A and poor nutrition;
- immunity reduction;
- systemic autoimmune pathologies of connective tissue, as well as diseases of internal organs and systems;
- fungal infections and due to the acute form of diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms;
- poor quality or improper use of hair and scalp products, and frequent blow dryer use;
- excessive human exposure to electromagnetic radiation of various types, as well as due to the presence of high concentrations of suspended chemical elements in the air.
Depending on the type of skin disease of the scalp, its treatment should also be carried out. Also, the therapy of the pathology that occurs in a particular patient will depend on the nature of its course. The identification of concomitant ailments will also influence the implementation of the necessary measures.
Types of pathology
All diseases of the scalp (photos and names of the most common of them will be presented below) are divided into four types. Among them:
- Infectious and fungal. The first of these ispediculosis. It develops when people are infected with head lice. Among the ailments, microsporia and trichophytosis are distinguished.
- Pathologies caused by disturbances in the functioning of the sebaceous glands. The most common ailments of this type are dandruff and seborrhea.
- Pathological loss of curls. There are many reasons for excessive hair loss. That is why, in order to restore the beauty of the hairstyle, it will be necessary, first of all, to determine the main one.
- Injuries affecting the hair shaft. The cause of such pathologies can be thermal, chemical and mechanical external influences.
Depending on the type of patient's ailment, the trichologist may refer him for a consultation with other specialists. With a joint approach to finding out the causes of the disease of the scalp and to eliminate them, the probability of restoring the strength of curls increases significantly. This fact must be taken into account at the beginning of the fight against the disease.
Let's take a closer look at various diseases of the scalp, photos and names of these ailments.
Pediculosis
Consideration of various types of diseases of the scalp, let's start with this one, which has an infectious nature. The development of head lice is promoted by lice, which are transmitted by contact and household routes. Most often, such diseases of the scalp occur in children who attend groups. The bites of these parasites cause severe itching and are accompanied by soreness. When combing the skin, secondary infections join pediculosis. The result of the disease is the formation of scars on the scalp.
In the case of a neglected disease in a patient, purulent crusts appear in the foci of pathology. Due to the laying of eggs by parasites and the discharge of pus, individual strands of hair in such a patient stick together.
Among the general symptoms of a scalp disease of this nature, an increase in the size of regional lymph nodes is distinguished. In addition, damage to the hair shaft occurs, which provokes the attachment of a huge amount of nits to the curls.
Treatment of pediculosis is carried out with the use of special preparations of local action. Nits and adult insects should be mechanically removed periodically.
Microsporia
This pathology refers to fungal diseases of the scalp. Microsporia, or microsporosis, can be infected from humans or from animals (the latter is much less common). Most of all, the disease affects children. From them, in the future, microsporum fungi are transmitted to all other family members. Moreover, the rate of spread of this disease of the scalp is one of the highest.
The main symptom of this pathology is the formation of rounded areas in the scalp with clearly defined boundaries. In these areas, the skin begins to peel off. The fragility of the hair increases, they break off, leaving only a few millimeters from the root. Such phenomena are accompanied by itching. These "stumps" soon begin to become covered with a grayish coating that looks like mold in appearance.
Inflammatory changes in the affected areas of this infectious disease of the scalp are practically absent. In the future, areas of pathology are covered with purulent crusts.
Trichophytosis
The second name for this fungal disease of the scalp is ringworm. It can be transmitted through human contact with infected cats or dogs. The cause of the pathology can also be the things of already afflicted people.
Such a disease of the scalp as trichophytosis is superficial. This type of disease most often affects adolescent children. There is also a deep ringworm. It is usually seen in young people.
Symptoms of the superficial form of the disease are small rounded areas in which the hair breaks off at different heights from the surface of the skin. The appearance of such foci, which reach 3 cm in diameter, is certainly accompanied by peeling of the epithelium and itching. In addition, an infected person has symptoms of intoxication, swelling and soreness of the lymph nodes, as well as allergic rashes. On the contour of the foci of pathology, blisters and crusts sometimes appear that have purulent contents. In some patients, deformation of the nail plates is observed at the same time.
It should be borne in mind that the treatment of fungal diseases of the scalp should be carried out as soon as possible. Otherwise, the lesions will develop at a high speed.
Scab
The causative agents of this disease of the scalp (see photo below) parasitize only onhuman.
The second name for scab is "favus". It is given to pathology by the name of a fungus that can form on the head, as well as on other parts of the body, peculiar yellowish crusts with a depressed middle. In the center of these foci, as a rule, single hairs grow. If the treatment of a scalp disease of this type is not carried out for a certain time, then the individual crusts begin to merge with each other. This leads to the appearance of large areas of damage. In the most advanced cases, epidermal cells atrophy under such crusts. This leads to the development of permanent baldness.
This disease of the scalp and hair leads to the fact that curls lose their strength and shine, pull out without much effort, and in appearance begin to resemble tow.
Most often, residents of the southern regions suffer from scab. Most of the patients are women and children. The causative agent of such a pathology is resistant to changes in the external environment and is able to exist for a long time in furniture, in carpets and in the dust of residential premises. Infection is possible through direct contact of a person with objects on which the fungus is located.
Seborrhea
Let's start looking at the descriptions and names of diseases of the scalp caused by dysfunction of the sebaceous secretion glands. Seborrhea is on the list of the most common of them. This is an inflammatory pathology. It occurs due to the increased secretion of sebum, which has a modified composition.
Basicsymptoms characteristic of seborrhea are expressed in itching of the head, as well as in redness and peeling of the skin. In advanced cases, hair loss is observed with a high probability of developing baldness.
The disease has its varieties. So, dry seborrhea is isolated, as well as oily. Treatment (a photo of the scalp disease is presented below) in each individual case should be selected individually by a dermatologist or trichologist.
The disease recedes when local and systemic antifungal therapy is carried out with simultaneous correction of the daily diet, as well as due to the exclusion of the factors that caused its development.
Seborrheic dermatitis
The disease is chronic and inflammatory. It develops due to excessive reproduction of a lipophilic yeast-like fungus. The course of the disease is similar to dermatitis, in which well-defined spots of inflammatory foci form on the scalp. These red zones gradually merge. Over time, a yellowish crust forms on such spots, caused by the rejection of epidermal cells.
Apart from the scalp, seborrheic dermatitis spreads to the upper body and face. A symptom that occurs before the appearance of foci of inflammation is dandruff. It begins to form in large quantities.
Seborrheic dermatitis is one of the causes of baldness. Hair growth can only be restored if there is a stable remission.diseases. The main pathology therapy consists in following a special hypoallergenic diet, as well as in using some physiotherapy and taking antimycotic drugs prescribed by a doctor.
Eczema
The initial manifestations of this pathology are associated with the growth of colonies of fungi belonging to the genus Pityrosporum. Sometimes the cause of the disease is staphylococcus aureus that affects the skin. However, eczema on the head is not always caused by the influence of pathogenic microorganisms. Sometimes it develops with allergic reactions to certain external stimuli, as well as with chronic diseases of the kidneys and liver, digestive organs, as well as the endocrine and nervous systems.
The main symptoms of eczema are rounded rashes that look like papules, plaques or spots. The appearance of such lesions is accompanied by burning, itching and soreness.
Eczema that occurs on the scalp can occur in parallel with seborrhea. Moreover, in addition to rounded rashes, it is accompanied by increased dryness of the skin and curls.
The disease is not contagious. His treatment is carried out after a complete examination of the patient and the identification of violations in the functioning of internal organs.
Dandruff
This term refers to the desquamation of the epithelium layer located in the scalp. As a result of this process, yellowish or white scales appear.
The resulting dandruff makes a person itchy. At the same time, the curls become dull and dry, or acquire excessivefat content.
Fungal infections are often the cause of dandruff. It is observed in patients suffering from seborrhea, as well as in those people who have recently been subjected to serious psycho-emotional stress. Dandruff occurs with hypovitaminosis, as well as if the patient has intestinal and gastric pathologies.
Provokes the appearance of white scales and improper hair care. It is worth noting that dandruff is observed in varying degrees of severity in almost 70% of the inhabitants of the planet.
Treatment in this case should be gentle care for curls. A person needs to prevent possible external influences of an aggressive nature and conduct a course of therapy with drugs prescribed by a trichologist. It is worth bearing in mind that dandruff is one of the causes of hair loss.
Alopecia
Too active hair loss is provoked by various negative factors. They can be both damage to the follicles and internal diseases of the body. In elderly people, a similar phenomenon is caused by age-related changes.
Alopecia is a progressive hair loss that leads to complete or partial baldness. This pathology is of three types: diffuse, focal and androgenic.
The disease affects both men and women. And most often it is faced by people over 50 years old. It is worth noting that baldness worsens a person's appearance and is the cause of psycho-emotional experiences.
To provide effective treatmentalopecia, you will need to find out the main reason that caused the active loss of curls. Sometimes a trichologist prescribes for the patient a lifetime use of certain external agents that help restore the density of the hair.
Trichoclasia
Consider diseases of the scalp caused by injury to the hair shaft. It should be noted that this phenomenon is observed quite often. It can be provoked by perm, coloring of curls, as well as the use of flat irons and thermal irons. Such exposures do not always lead to excessive hair loss, but, as a rule, they cause damage to the ends of the hair, their dryness, brittleness and loss of elasticity.
However, the reasons may lie in other factors. So, for example, the disease, which is called the term "trichoclasia", is caused by infections that a woman suffered during pregnancy. Pathology has two types:
- Nodal. Symptoms of this form of trichoclasia are grayish-white nodules that usually appear on the lower third of the hair shaft. These formations are located at an unequal distance from each other. Near the knots, the curls break off easily, and at their ends you can see the bundle of the hair shaft.
- Purchased. This ailment is proximal, manifesting itself in the absence of growth of curls, and also distal, when bizarre nodules appear at the end of the hair. The first variant of the disease is most common in African American children. At the slightest sip, the curls of such patients break off. Restore Structurehair with this form of trichoclasia is possible due to proper hair care. The second version of the anomaly affects only small areas on the head. In men, the beard is most often affected. In this case, the hair shafts break off in places of their deformation.
Trichokinesis
The second name for this scalp disease is the term "twisted hair". An anomaly appears when the child reaches the age of two. Hair becomes rough, hard, of different lengths and almost devoid of natural shine. Sometimes children become noticeable foci of baldness. Some areas of the damaged hair shaft are flattened and have grooves. At the same time, each of them bends around its own axis at different angles.
It is impossible for a patient suffering from this pathology to comb his curls normally. After all, the hair is constantly tangled and can even be pulled out.
As a rule, trichokinesis is found in girls. When they reach the age of eight, he althy hair appears on the head much more. Twisted curls at the same time become hardly noticeable.
Moniletrix
This ailment is noted infrequently. It manifests itself in infants and affects not only the hair on the head, but also eyelashes, eyebrows, and some other areas.
A symptom of this disease is the appearance of thickening and thinning on the shaft of the curl. The first of them on light strands look darker. Fine hair starts to break off. Curls become unable to grow more than 1.5 cm in length. Moniletrix is also characterized by congenitalchanges in the innervation of the skin. They cause deformation of the hair follicles. This disease is accompanied by follicular hyperkeratosis.
