What are the causes of white hair in children?

Children's gray hair is naturally a reflection of their physical health, because we all know that only gray hair that appears due to aging is relatively normal. If children have white hair, it is the so-called premature graying. There are reasons for premature graying, such as malnutrition of children, or lack of certain nutrients in the body, or patients with long-term fever, which may cause this problem. So let us take a closer look at the reasons for children's gray hair.

Causes of premature graying of hair

What determines hair color is 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.

When children have white hair, it will actually make them more inferior, so parents also need to understand the causes of children's white hair and find the most effective way to help them treat it. This way, they can grow black hair as soon as possible, avoid being laughed at by others, and maintain their self-esteem.