Question for Doctors-Is hair loss considered a DISEASE?

[walrus]

(Joe from Staten - REREAD Baldozer's great response).
Hair loss is a natural occurrence in MANY mammals. Not just humans as I have been trying to get through to you.
Thank you Baldozer !!

Hi Walrus, Diabetes is a serious health ISSUE properly categorized as a DISEASE. For some people, if diabetes is not properly treated they could DIE early.

That IS NOT the case for hair loss.
Yes it is a disturbing natural occurrence for a good % of us humans but it is NOT a medical health risk.
Unless of course, a person has serious mental depression to begin with ,then hair loss just adds to that persons decline (if both issues are untreated).

Now here is why I think hair loss was initially labeled under a loose category of 'disease'

PRIOR to 21st century medical science ADVANCEMENTS,
it was ASSUMED that once hair had been 100% minimized that it was dead.
That ASSUMPTION of hair 'death' was DISPELLED / proven WRONG due to the advancements in TODAY'S medical science.
In other words, minimized hair is NOT dead. It is DORMANT.
That is just one of the reasons why you hear of MANY clinics/companies working on treatments and possible cures.


(Baldozer what do you think? )

Artista, none of my posts specifically claimed that hair loss is a 'disease'.

I was pointing out that Baldozer is using flawed logic.

Its not a disease, its natural. Even apes like chimpanzees experience baldness.

This implies that if an animal can have it, it is natural and not a disease. This is false, humans and animals share many of the same diseases. Zoonoses for example.

The second point was:

Diabetes can kill you, but baldness does not.

Prognosis has no bearing on whether or not something is classified as a disease. Many diseases are non-lethal.

Wikipedia contains plenty of information on the definition of disease: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease

[baldozer]

(Joe from Staten - REREAD Baldozer's great response).
Hair loss is a natural occurrence in MANY mammals. Not just humans as I have been trying to get through to you.
Thank you Baldozer !!

Hi Walrus, Diabetes is a serious health ISSUE properly categorized as a DISEASE. For some people, if diabetes is not properly treated they could DIE early.

That IS NOT the case for hair loss.
Yes it is a disturbing natural occurrence for a good % of us humans but it is NOT a medical health risk.
Unless of course, a person has serious mental depression to begin with ,then hair loss just adds to that persons decline (if both issues are untreated).

Now here is why I think hair loss was initially labeled under a loose category of 'disease'

PRIOR to 21st century medical science ADVANCEMENTS,
it was ASSUMED that once hair had been 100% minimized that it was dead.
That ASSUMPTION of hair 'death' was DISPELLED / proven WRONG due to the advancements in TODAY'S medical science.
In other words, minimized hair is NOT dead. It is DORMANT.
That is just one of the reasons why you hear of MANY clinics/companies working on treatments and possible cures.


(Baldozer what do you think? )

But I've read that although a hair follicle does retain the ability to produce hair till 5 years or so, after that time it becomes totally dead. So, if you have recently started going bald, something could be done about it, but if you have been bald for long, nothing can be done. I think the best solution would be to clone your whole scalp that starts growing hair as it was when you were born, and then transplant it over your head. Just hair cloning doesn't seems that good, as you would have to transplant hair by hair and also take care of the angle and direction of the transplanted hair. That is too laborious, time consuming and unreliable.