BALDNESS, Alopecia. See HAIR. There are some rare cases on record in which the hair has never been developed. This is termed congenital baldness.
Accidental baldness may involve the whole scalp, or may be only in patches; these patches may run into each other, and hence some consider this condition a species of ringworm. It is caused, says Mr. Erasmus 'Wilson, by an atrophy of the hair-follicles (q.v.). B. in the comparatively young and middle-aged may occur from wearing water proof caps, which, by preventing- evaporation from the head, occasion an unhealthy state of skin. Naval and military ()Ricers are liable to B. arising from this cause.
Senile baldness (calvities) is not necessarily the consequence of age; it may arise, like the preceding variety, from an atrophy of those parts on which the hairs depend for nutrition. It generally commences on the crown of the head, where the supply of blood is naturally less abundant. Women have a greater quantity of soft tissue under the skin, therefore the vessels are less likely to be interfered with; hence they are not so frequently bald as men.
The causes of B. are the defective supply of nutrition just mentioned, a family tend ency, late hours, dissipation, but especially old age. The hair falls off after severe ill
ness, or after,other causes of general debility. During pregnancy the hair falls out: and in this country we often see the loug hair of young women, victims to consumption, almost completely shed.
Treatment of boldness consists in attention to cleanliness, and in exciting the languid circulation of the scalp to greater activity, by using a hard hair-brush, and the applica tion of stimulants, as the Spanish-fly ointment in the proportion of two drachms to an ounce of lard mixed with about the same quantity of pomatum. Or the stimulants may be applied in the form of lotions. But at the same time constitutional debility should be remedied by attention to the various functions of the body; tonics should be adminis tered; and, if possible, causes of anxiety or night-watehing should be avoided. Shaving the whole head is sometimes resorted to. If these remedies are successful, downy white hair, like that of au infant, begins to grow, winch may or may not acquire the color and vigorous appearance of the former growth.