Why is my hair falling out?

• Hair loss or baldness (alopecia) is a loss of hair from the head or body. Baldness can refer to general hair loss or androgenic alopecia (male pattern baldness). Some types of baldness can be caused by alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder. The extreme forms of alopecia areata are alopecia totalis, which involves the loss of all head hair, and alopecia universalise, which involves the loss of all hair from the head and the body.
• Baldness and hypotrichosis can have many causes, including fungal infection (tinea capitis), traumatic damage, such as by compulsive pulling (trichotillomania), as a result of radiotherapy or chemotherapy, and as a result of nutritional deficiencies such as Iron deficiency, and as a result of autoimmune phenomena, including alopecia areata and hair loss associated with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Symptoms:

• Symptoms of alopecia include hair loss in patches usually in circular patterns, dandruff, skin lesions, and scarring. Alopecia areata (mild - medium level) usually shows in unusual hair loss areas e.g. eyebrows, backside of the head or above the ears where usually the male pattern baldness does not affect.
• In male-pattern hair loss, loss and thinning begin at the temples and the crown and either thins out or falls out.
• Female-pattern hair loss occurs at the frontal and parietal.