Your eyebrows are like your calling card to your face and are normally with us for the majority of our lives. So when they start to disappear, many people question why. Hair will be lost by a variety of situations that affect its growth cycle, or the area from which it grows.
So here are the three main reasons why you may lose them.
1. Infections
Infectious conditions can either directly affect the hair follicle, or hair shaft, or create such inflammation in the region that you literally scratch the hair out. Patchy hair loss is a good indication of problems like Syphilis. Infiltration of the infection deep within the skin such as what occurs with Hansen’s Disease can squeeze the hair follicles out of the way.
Fungal infections: Just like those on the scalp, fungal infections can occur on hair bearing areas of the face as well and lead to typically temporary hair loss.
Lice: The itching and scratching cycle associated with lice of the brows and lashes can cause you to literally pull them out.
Hansen’s Disease (aka Leprosy): Can infiltrate the brow region leading to thinning eyebrows.
Syphilis: Who thought that a venereal disease could cause hair loss? However, syphilis can cause “moth-eaten” hair loss in more advanced stages.
2. Autoimmune Disorders
Autoimmune diseases turns the body turns on itself, mistakenly destroying healthy tissue . In other words, the body basically thinks that a germ is present and is out to get rid of it. Autoimmune diseases are a broad category and encompass a multitude of diagnoses. Here are a few that can lead to hair loss.
Lupus Erythematosus: All autoimmune diseases can put hair at risk. Inflammation of the skin due to a variety of lupus-like conditions may result in patchy hair loss.
Alopecia Areata: In this condition, hair is specifically targeted by the body for destruction. A random condition where any hair is potentially at risk.
This disease where the color-making cells of the skin are destroyed may cause enough inflammation to accidentally result in some hair loss as well.