Contents:
- Medical Video: Grant - Are We Still Young (feat. Jessi Mason) [Monstercat Lyric Video]
- Hair color-making cells stop producing pigments
- Small children can also grow gray hair
- Does the appearance of gray hair at a young age mean that there are health problems?
- Cigarettes also speed up someone graying
Medical Video: Grant - Are We Still Young (feat. Jessi Mason) [Monstercat Lyric Video]
Everyone will definitely have gray hair, which will generally appear when they enter their mid-30s or 40s. However, we often see people in their early 20s starting to grow gray. How can gray hair appear at a young age?
Hair color-making cells stop producing pigments
Jeffrey Benabio, M.D., a dermatologist from Kaiser Mencente in San Diego, United States, said that a person starts graying when the hair color-making cells (melanocytes) stop producing pigments. The use of hair care products that contain hydrogen peroxide can also accelerate hair to become white or gray.
"In particular, white people started graying in their mid-30s, Asians in their late 30s, and Africans in their mid-40s. Then, some people have a significant amount of gray hair when they enter the age of 50, "Jeffrey explained WebMD about when a person generally turns gray.
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This member of the Health Information Process Transformation (HIPT) added that white people will have gray hair that appears early or too quickly, usually when they are 20 years old. While the condition of premature gray hair for Africans will appear before the age of 30 years.
Small children can also grow gray hair
As Jeffrey explained before, Dr. Desmond Tobin, professor of cell biology from the University of Bradford in the UK added that genetic factors also cause a person to grow gray hair earlier.
"The loss of hair pigmentation makes a person gray, this is mainly due to genetic factors and age. In some people, gray hair appears very quickly, maybe before entering adolescence. While others, will only appear when old. The appearance of gray hair can be very fast in some people, but others appear gradually, "Dr. Tobin.
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Based on the report Diagnose-me.com, there is a case of an 8-year-old boy known to have gray hair. The appearance of gray hair is fast in the child, as explained by Dr. Tobin, tends to be caused by genetic factors.
Does the appearance of gray hair at a young age mean that there are health problems?
Growing gray hair, whether normal or too early, doesn't mean you have health problems, except in rare cases. Jeffrey explained that experts and researchers don't know exactly why some people can have gray hair faster. But he said the same thing as Dr. Tobin, who believes in genetic factors has a big role in the emergence of gray hair.
Vitamin B-12 deficiency or problems with the pituitary gland or thyroid gland can cause gray growth at a young age. However, Jeffrey said the emergence of gray hair that is too fast can be prevented if health problems are overcome.
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In the case of early emergence of gray hair in children, Dr. Greene, a pediatrician who created the Drgreene.com website, said there were several conditions that made graying children, including neurofibromatosis or known as Recklinghausen's disease. This disease is a genetic disorder in the nervous system that results in the development of benign tumors in the nerves.
In addition, the alumni of Princeton University and the University of California said that rare diseases such as Vogt-Koyanagi syndrome can attack children followed by viral diseases. As the child's body fights viruses, antibodies that are made will destroy melanocytes, which make pigments for hair.
Cigarettes also speed up someone graying
A clinical study published in 1996 in the British Medical Journal found an association between the appearance of gray hair before someone was 30 years old, and smoking.
Quoted Global Post, the study researchers examined more than 600 men and women, and about 300 of them were smokers. These researchers found a link between smoking and the emergence of premature gray hair, which is caused by poisons in cigarettes that damage hormones and hair follicles. And the results of the study showed that smokers were 4 times faster graying than non-smokers.
READ ALSO: Detect Brain Tumors to Stroke, from Symptoms in the Eye
In another study conducted by a number of researchers from Jordan University Hospital and published in 2013 in the Indian Dermatology Journal Online, it was revealed that smoking could endanger the production of melanin (cells in hair follicles), causing premature gray hair to someone before 30 years old.
