What is the reason why my baby has a white hair?

The birth of a newborn brings a lot of happiness and warmth to the family. However, mothers are always worried about whether their babies are sick, whether they have eaten enough and slept well, or whether they have caught a cold. These are all normal phenomena. Sometimes, mothers will find that their babies have grown white hair, which makes many parents anxious. So, what is the reason why the baby has a white hair? Is it a genetic problem?

Causes of premature graying of hair: Hair color is determined by the amount of pigment particles in the hair, which is related to the development and growth of pigment cells in the hair root papilla. When hair turns from black to white, it is generally due to the decline of the function of the hair pigment cells. When they decline to the point where they can no longer produce pigment particles, the hair turns completely white. In normal people, hair pigment cells begin to decline from the age of 35. Some people have white hair in their 20s, which is medically called juvenile graying, commonly known as "premature graying". The causes of premature graying of hair are rather complex, and are related to both genetic and physical factors as well as various acquired factors. Congenital premature graying of hair. People with this type of premature graying of hair often have a family history of the disease. They are often born with gray hair, or their hair turns gray earlier than others. In addition, there were no other abnormal manifestations. Acquired premature graying of hair. There are many causes: malnutrition, such as lack of protein, vitamins and certain trace elements (such as copper), can cause hair to turn white; certain chronic wasting diseases such as tuberculosis, due to nutritional deficiencies, the hair turns white earlier than ordinary people; some patients with long-term fever will have yellow and brittle hair or even turn white and fall out; some endocrine diseases, such as pituitary or thyroid diseases, can affect the ability of pigment cells to produce pigment particles and cause hair to turn white prematurely; encephalitis, nervous system diseases, etc. can also cause hair to turn white; the skin, hair, and eyebrows of patients with albinism are all white; the skin-whitening disease - "vitiligo", if it occurs on the scalp, the hair will also turn white; some people believe that the more you use your brain, the earlier your hair will turn white; some young people have a lot of white hair in a short period of time, which is related to serious mental trauma or mental fatigue such as excessive anxiety and sadness. Clinical manifestations of premature graying of hair: The disease occurs in adolescence or young adulthood; initially, there are a few sparsely scattered white hairs, most of which first appear on the back or top of the scalp, mixed in with the black hair and appear gray; subsequently, the number of white hairs may gradually or suddenly increase, but not all of them will turn white. For some people, the white hair remains unchanged for a long time; generally there are no conscious symptoms; those that occur suddenly may be related to nutritional disorders; for some patients, the white hair decreases or even disappears unknowingly after the inducing factors are eliminated; for some people, even their beards turn white, which Chinese medicine calls premature graying of hair and beard.

“Premature graying of hair” may be related to DNA damage: It is normal for people to have gray hair as they get older, but what is the reason for young people’s hair to turn gray? Not long ago, a study conducted by Inner Mongolia Medical College proved that the occurrence of "premature graying of hair" may be related to DNA damage. The researchers selected 20 young people with non-hereditary "premature graying of hair" and 20 normal people as research subjects. They used sister chromatid exchange (SCE) analysis and micronucleus detection technology to detect the cell DNA of the two groups of young people and found that the average SCE value of the cells in the "premature graying of hair" group was 7.29, and the micronucleus rate was 5.01‰, which were significantly higher than 6.25 and 2.45‰ of the control group. There were significant differences between the two groups. The SCE and micronucleus rates in the "premature graying hair" group were significantly higher than those in the normal group, suggesting that the occurrence of "premature graying hair" may be related to DNA damage.

In the eyes of many people, it is a very simple thing for a baby to have a white hair. They believe that it is caused by the baby's lack of melanin. In fact, there are many factors that affect a baby's white hair, and not every baby has white hair due to lack of melanin. Therefore, parents should prescribe the right medicine for their children and not give them medicine blindly.