Eyebrow hair loss

Eyebrow Hair Loss Causes, Treatments and Remedies

by

Are your eyebrows falling out or are you losing them each day? Do not wait until they are completely lost before you start struggling to regrow them back. Learn more about causes or reasons including why they are thinning as well as what can you do to help deal with this issue.

Causes – why they are falling off

Why am I losing my eyebrows or what is causing it? Well, if you initially had fuller or thicker eyebrows and you start noticing they are slowly thinning and becoming sparse, there must be a reason for that.

They cannot keep on falling off without a reason. Let us look at some of the possible causes.

1. Over-plucking

The first possible reason is over-plucking. Tweezing is the most popular way of shaping them among most women. Compared to shaving, it lasts longer, up to six weeks before tweezed ones regrows back.

However, avoid excessive plucking since it can result in permanent hair loss on your brows in the case where your follicle is damaged. Furthermore tweezing can make your them vulnerable to infections as well as ingrown hair.

2. Aging

As people age, their hair gets not only thinning and drier but also starts falling off.  As MedlinePlus notes, “nearly everyone has some hair loss with aging. The rate of hair growth also slows.” This happens to all body hairs including those on your scalp, body, and face.

Furthermore, expect the thickness of their strands to reduce as you age. This is perhaps one of the causes of thinning.

If your the loss is due to aging, reduce stress on your hair, keep them well moisturized, and avoid much stress including aggressive use of makeup.

3. Deficiency of some nutrients

Some nutrient deficiencies or excesses can cause both scalp and body hair loss including the hairs on your eyebrows and eyelashes. To be specific, anemia due to iron deficiency can cause hair loss. Furthermore, according to belgraviacenter.com, “too much selenium in the blood can cause hair loss”

Besides ensuring you get enough iron and vitamin D, ensure your diets have the following foods:-

  • Vitamin B complex – This includes B-12, B-7 (biotin), and niacin are known to be essential for one to have healthy hair and skin, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Try eating foods such as dark leafy greens, poultry, eggs, beef liver, cauliflower, carrots, avocados, and legumes.
  • Vitamin D – A study in 2012 published in a journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine indicates the fact that vitamin D can help in hair growth since it can create new pores.

    Other researchers have also shown that vitamin D can help wake up some follicles that have been a domain. Ensure you include this vitamin in your diet by eating foods such as sardines, tuna, milk, yogurt, beef, egg yolks, etc.

In addition, zinc, omega 3 fatty acids, and proteins have shown to help one get better and stronger hair. Ensure you also have them in your diet.

4. Hypothyroidism – falling out and thinning

The other reason why they are falling out is thyroid problems or diseases of either too much hyperthyroidism or too little hypothyroidism. According to Everyday Health, “too much thyroid hormone, the hair on your head can become fine, with thinning hair all over the scalp. When there is too little of this hormone, there can be hair loss, not just on the scalp, but also anywhere on the body”.

From above, it is correct to deduce the fact that hypothyroidism (an underactive or low thyroid problem) can actually make these hairs to fall off.

To help know if an underactive thyroid is the cause of your eyebrow loss, expect other symptoms such as fatigue, constipation, depression, muscle cramps, brittle hair and nail, courser and drier hair, dry skin that looks pale, weakness, weight gain, and cold intolerance.

Regrow them back when caused by thyroid problems 

Treating underactive thyroid is by hormone replacement tablets such as levothyroxine, or combine it with triiodothyronine (T3). Once the thyroid problem has been contained, you will start having your eyebrow hair regrowth as well as hairs on other parts of your body.

5. Alopecia areata loss

According to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, “Alopecia areata is a prevalent autoimmune skin disease resulting in the loss of hair on the scalp and elsewhere on the body.” Although an uncommon brows, it can possibly cause it especially if you have alopecia universalis where you will lose all body hairs in both men and women.

If alopecia areata is your case of thinning and loss, is not possible to cure it i.e. there is no treatment. However, you can try to regrow them with the use of Rogaine (minoxidil). Furthermore, the use of anti-inflammatory for autoimmune diseases such as corticosteroids or topical contact allergens can also help regrow your lost hairs.

6. Hansen’s disease

Hansen’s disease or leprosy can cause too. According to livestrong.com, the disease often affects the skin of this region, leading to loss of sensation and permanent loss of the eyebrow hairs”  Since it is caused by bacterial, your doctor will recommend antibiotics, which you may take for as long as he or she recommends. Usually 6 months to two years.

7. Eczema (atopic dermatitis)

Eczema or atopic dermatitis according to smarthealthadvice.com “is a medical condition that might lead to thin eyebrows” It causes skin inflammation of making it red, scaly, itchy and swollen. Although common in younger people, it can affect anyone, both men, and women.

Over time, eczema can make your skin thicker, bumpy and hamper their normal growth. Furthermore, according to National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the “patchy loss of eyebrows and eyelashes may also result from scratching or rubbing”.

To manage it, ensure your skin is well moisturized, and use topical steroids to reduce itchiness, which may make you want to scratch the affected area.

8. Chemotherapy

According to Mayo Clinic, “chemotherapy may cause hair loss all over your body — not just on your scalp. Sometimes your eyelash, eyebrow, armpit, pubic and other body hair also falls out”. This happens since these medications are supposed to attack quickly growing cancerous cells but it ends up attacking also cells that grow fast including those on your root hairs.

Whereas some chemotherapy medications may cause more hair loss, none of them is guaranteed not to cause any hair loss. Some of the effective technics used to deal with hair loss due to chemotherapy include the use of Minoxidil (Rogaine) and scalp hypothermia.

9. General anesthesia and surgery

Stress from anesthesia and the surgical process can cause temporary hair loss in the affected area, common within the first 3 months.

10. Pregnancy and childbirth

During pregnancy, women do not shed much body hair and it looks shiny, healthy and thicker. However, immediately after childbirth, some women can suffer from hair loss. This is due to the changes in estrogen level and it is temporary.

11. Excessive stress

Being much stressed for long times can trigger hair loss, including on your eyebrow. This is associated with hormonal changes that occur when someone is much psychological stress. However, this is temporary.

12. Medication side effects

According to Everyday Health, some medications including “blood thinners, vitamin A supplements, some arthritis medications, antidepressants, and gout medications, medications for certain heart problems, blood pressure medications, and birth control pills” can lead to hair loss. Your doctor should help in getting alternative medications that do not cause hair loss.

13. Skin growths

Some skin growths such as moles, warts, hemangiomas, sebaceous hyperplasia, and seborrhea keratosis on this area may make growing hair unable to penetrate through them. If removed carefully, eyebrow regrowth is possible. However, scarring can make it impossible for hair to grow again.

14.Other causes

Besides the above, there are other possible cause for the loss and thinning. The common causes include the following:

  • Fungal infection – This can make your skin scaly and make hair around it to fall off especially in patches. Treatment is by antifungal medication both oral and topical.
  • Syphilis – At its second stage, CDC notes that syphilis STD can cause patchy hair loss as one of its symptoms.
  • Lice – Itchiness due to having lice on your eyebrows or eyelashes can push you to scratch your brows. This can make them come off.
  • Vitiligo – may cause some hair loss in affected areas although not common.
  • Lupus Erythematosus
  • Trauma
  • Infiltrating skin cancer

Treatment – Can you regrow eyebrows?

Besides treating the underlying problem, you deserve to know there are no FDA approved treatments available. While looking at each of the possible cases, we gave insight on how each can be managed. Let us now look at more ways to deal with this menace.

1. Try restoration surgery (transplant)

If you have few eyebrow hairs and you want more, you can go for a transplant surgery also known as a replacement surgery. This is particularly good for people who have lost them from genetics, trauma, and scars and over plucking.

This surgical process will be ideal for replacing or even touching them up on areas where you do not have them.

Unfortunately, those who have alopecia areata and a few other conditions or those who are likely to have keloids may not be good candidates for this procedure.

Your plastic surgeon will advise you if your case can be dealt with through eyebrow grafting or transplant.

Best growth products and serums

The other option you should consider is the use of the various available eyebrow growth enhancers and serums. They can help make them thicker, stronger and healthier, besides encouraging them to grow back.  Latisse and Rogaine are the most known best growth treatment you should consider. Others best serums and enhancers to give a try include the following:

  • Viviscal
  • Anastasia Brow Enhancing Serum
  • RapidBrow Enhancing Serum
  • Revitalash Revitabrow Conditioner
  • LashFood Nano-Peptide Natural
  • RapidLash Eyelash
  • LiBrow Growth Serum
  • Professional Brow & Lash Growth Accelerator Treatment Gel by Ardell
  • TALIKA Lipocils Conditioning Gel
  • Brows To Die For(TM) Conditioning Treatment
  • RevitaBrow
  • Joey Healy – Brow Renovation Serum
  • BBROWBAR Nourishing Brow Oil
  • Ardell Brow & Lash Growth Accelerator Treatment Gel

We did not go into details or we do not have any reviews of any of the above growth products. Try reading reviews, see how they are rated or even before and after photos so help you know what is going to work.

Natural remedies

While at home, there are a number of natural remedies you can try to help stop further loss and regrow your eyebrows. These remedies include

  • Coconut Oil
  • Olive Oil
  • Castor Oil
  • Egg Yolk
  • Aloe Vera

How to Grow Thick Eyebrows Naturally has all you need to know if you are interested in natural ways to make them thicker.

Fill thin with makeup

While waiting for them to grow back, you can use makeup to help hide your parse or thin brow.  Good use of eyebrow pencil, filler, and other makeup can help make up for the missing strands. Elle.com has a good tutorial on how to get fuller brows in 8 easy steps as well as WikiHow.com’s How to feel eyebrow.

Bald ones

Most of the above causes can cause a few strands to fall off to complete baldness. The image below is an illustration of total bald ones.

Conclusion

We have looked at the causes of loss and thinning, some of the ways you can deal with problem including how to regrow them with home remedies, some eyebrow growth products as well as surgical restoration.

References and cited works