Autoimmunity & Inflammation

Is Your Immune System Sabotaging Your Hair Growth?

Your immune system is your body’s 24/7 defense force, designed to protect you from viruses, bacteria, and other threats. But what happens when this system, as remarkable as it is, gets confused and turns against you?

Autoimmune diseases occur when your immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues, including hair follicles. If left unchecked, this overreaction can lead to conditions like alopecia and other forms of hair loss, affecting not only your health but also your confidence.

Autoimmunity and Hair Loss: What’s the Connection?

Hair loss linked to autoimmunity isn’t just a cosmetic issue—it’s a signal that your body’s defense systems are out of balance. Conditions like alopecia areata, lupus, Hashimoto’s, and psoriasis are common autoimmune disorders that directly impact hair health.

These conditions can :

• Trigger chronic inflammation that damages hair follicles.
• Disrupt nutrient absorption, depriving follicles of essential growth factors.
• Affect hormone levels, disrupting the natural hair growth cycle.

Recognizing the Patterns of Autoimmune Hair Loss

Autoimmune-related hair loss can appear in different forms:

• Patchy Hair Loss: Smooth, bald spots (e.g., alopecia areata).
• Diffuse Thinning: Even thinning across the scalp (e.g., thyroid-related or lupus-related hair loss).
• Scarring Alopecia: Permanent hair loss where follicles are replaced by scar tissue (e.g., lichen planopilaris).

How Autoimmune Conditions Cause Hair Loss

Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system misidentifies healthy tissues as threats. In the case of hair loss, this mistaken attack targets hair follicles, releasing inflammatory chemicals (cytokines) that disrupt the normal hair growth cycle. This often pushes follicles into a resting phase (telogen), leading to shedding or bald patches.

Key Mechanism:

Hair follicles are normally "immune-privileged," meaning they’re protected from immune attacks. In autoimmune conditions, this privilege breaks down, leaving follicles vulnerable.

Autoimmune Diseases That Can Cause Hair Loss

There are hundreds of autoimmune diseases and they can affect almost any part of the body. This is the list of the most common types and we see them at our practice quite frequently:

Alopecia (areata, totalis, universalsis)

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Celiac Disease

Pernicious Anemia

Vitiligo

Type 1 Diabetes

Crohn's Disease

Scleroderma

Ulcerative colitis

Grave's Disease

Lichen Planopilaris

Multiple Sclerosis

Hashimoto's

Lupus

Psoriasis

Telogen Effluvium

Covid

Autoimmunity Often Comes in Multiples

Did you know up to 34% of individuals diagnosed with an autoimmune condition have more than one autoimmune disease? Functional medicine helps identify patterns of autoimmunity, chronic inflammation, and hidden infections to uncover the root causes of immune dysfunction.

Possible Triggers

Autoimmune diseases have a strong chronic inflammatory component – the result of the immune system revved up to respond to what it considers a threat.

We all know that chronic stress, sleep deprivation and a poor diet can weaken our immune system, but there are other factors that might cause the immune system to act in such a misguided fashion.

Autoimmunity does not happen over night. It is a result of a unresolved stresses on the body and a failed attempt to return to homeostasis. Each attempt creates inflammation which leads to tissue destruction that can lead to the body tagging that tissue as harmful. This is where we roll up our sleeves and do heavy duty detective work to identify the challenges that led to such a damaging immune response.

Nutrient Deficiencies

Hormonal Imbalances: Thyroid dysfunction, adrenal fatigue, and high cortisol from chronic stress.

Food Allergies, Sensitivities, and intolerances trigger systemic chronic inflammation

Toxins: Exposure to heavy metals, mold, pesticides, and environmental chemicals.

Chronic Infections: Persistent infections (viral, bacterial, or fungal) can confuse the immune system into attacking healthy tissue.

Overuse of Antibiotics/Medications

Increased Intestinal Permeability (Leaky Gut Syndrome)

Poor Gut Health Issues: Up to 80% of the immune system resides in the gut, making conditions like dysbiosis a contributor.

How we can help

Like other health conditions, there are so many protocols, nutritional and supplement plans online that all this information can be overwhelming and paralyzing. Our approach figures out which one is best for you. By incorporating our detailed intake questionnaire, nutrient assessment, personalized protocol, customized food plan and targeted supplement program, we’ll provide you with actionable steps you can take to support and rebalance your immune system to get your body’s defense force back into action.

Labwork

Functional lab testing to dig deeper to understand exactly what is contributing to your immune dysregulation.

5-R Program

Determine your triggers and work together to strengthen your body’s recovery by working through each phase.

Personalized Protocol

Connecting the dots between your symptoms, history and lab results is key to creating the best protocol tailored to your body, needs and goals.

Ready to Take Control of Your Hair and Health?
Let’s talk!
Schedule a clarity case analysis to see how we can help you regain control of your hair, health, and confidence.

Schedule Now

Autoimmunity & Inflammation

Is Your Immune System Sabotaging Your Hair Growth?

Autoimmunity and Hair Loss: What’s the Connection?

Recognizing the Patterns of Autoimmune Hair Loss

How Autoimmune Conditions Cause Hair Loss

Autoimmune Diseases That Can Cause Hair Loss

Autoimmunity Often Comes in Multiples

Possible Triggers

Nutrient Deficiencies

Hormonal Imbalances: Thyroid dysfunction, adrenal fatigue, and high cortisol from chronic stress.

Food Allergies, Sensitivities, and intolerances trigger systemic chronic inflammation

Toxins: Exposure to heavy metals, mold, pesticides, and environmental chemicals.

Chronic Infections: Persistent infections (viral, bacterial, or fungal) can confuse the immune system into attacking healthy tissue.

Overuse of Antibiotics/Medications

Increased Intestinal Permeability (Leaky Gut Syndrome)

Poor Gut Health Issues: Up to 80% of the immune system resides in the gut, making conditions like dysbiosis a contributor.

How we can help

Labwork

5-R Program

Personalized Protocol

Ready to Take Control of Your Hair and Health?
Let’s talk!
Schedule a clarity case analysis to see how we can help you regain control of your hair, health, and confidence.

Phone: (720) 580-2078

Freebies

Useful Links

Autoimmunity & Inflammation

Is Your Immune System Sabotaging Your Hair Growth?

Autoimmunity and Hair Loss: What’s the Connection?

Recognizing the Patterns of Autoimmune Hair Loss

How Autoimmune Conditions Cause Hair Loss

Autoimmune Diseases That Can Cause Hair Loss

Autoimmunity Often Comes in Multiples

Possible Triggers

Nutrient Deficiencies

Hormonal Imbalances: Thyroid dysfunction, adrenal fatigue, and high cortisol from chronic stress.

Food Allergies, Sensitivities, and intolerances trigger systemic chronic inflammation

Toxins: Exposure to heavy metals, mold, pesticides, and environmental chemicals.

Chronic Infections: Persistent infections (viral, bacterial, or fungal) can confuse the immune system into attacking healthy tissue.

Overuse of Antibiotics/Medications

Increased Intestinal Permeability (Leaky Gut Syndrome)

Poor Gut Health Issues: Up to 80% of the immune system resides in the gut, making conditions like dysbiosis a contributor.

How we can help

Labwork

5-R Program

Personalized Protocol

Ready to Take Control of Your Hair and Health?Let’s talk!Schedule a clarity case analysis to see how we can help you regain control of your hair, health, and confidence.

Phone: (720) 580-2078

Freebies

Useful Links

Ready to Take Control of Your Hair and Health?
Let’s talk!
Schedule a clarity case analysis to see how we can help you regain control of your hair, health, and confidence.