As we age, changes in our hair color are a natural part of life. Just like the hair on our head, our eyebrows and eyelashes can also turn gray or white with age. This process, known as canities or achromotrichia, is primarily due to a decline in melanin, the pigment responsible for hair color. While graying eyelashes are often a harmless sign of aging, they can sometimes indicate an underlying medical condition.
Your hair color is determined by melanin. As you age, the amount of melanin in your hair naturally declines, which causes your hair to appear gray and eventually white. The stem cells at the base of hair follicles produce melanocytes, the cells that produce and store pigment in hair and skin. The death of the melanocyte stem cells causes the onset of greying.
Changes in hair color typically occur naturally as people age, eventually turning the hair grey and then white. This normally begins in the early to mid-twenties in men and late twenties in women. More than 60 percent of Americans have some grey hair by age 40. The age at which greying begins seems almost entirely due to genetics. Grey or white hair is not caused by a true grey or white pigment, but is due to a lack of pigmentation and melanin. The change in hair colour occurs when melanin ceases to be produced in the hair root and new hairs grow in without pigment.
Here are some of the most likely reasons why you may develop white eyelashes:
Aging is the most common reason why eyelashes go white. Your hair tends to lose melanin as you age. As melanin declines, your hair turns gray and later turns white as levels continue to decrease.
Read also: Managing Hair Loss from Chemo
A 2018 research review showed that about 50 percent of the world’s population has half their hair turn gray by the time they turn 50. Many people also develop gray or white eyebrows and eyelashes, but hair in these areas tends to lose color later in life.
In a 2014 study, researchers compared levels of eyebrow and eyelash whitening in 1,545 people between the ages of 1 to 90. Nobody under 40 years old experienced white eyelashes. Exactly 1 percent of people ages 41 to 50 had some degree of eyelash whitening.
The highest amount of eyelash whitening occurred in people between ages 71 to 80 with 14.7 percent of people experiencing it to some degree.
Vitiligo is a condition that causes white patches to form on your skin due to loss of melanin. It’s not entirely clear what causes vitiligo, but the presence of certain genes and a family history of autoimmune disorders may be risk factors.
If patches of vitiligo form in areas where hair grows, it can cause the hair to turn white due to lack of melanin, according to the National Health Service. A condition caused by the body’s inability to produce sufficient amounts of melanin, distinct from the natural decline due to aging, in which white patches develop on the skin in different areas of the body.
Read also: Detecting Alcohol Use via Hair Analysis
Blepharitis is inflammation of your eyelids that can be caused by:
Some people who develop blepharitis develop eyelashes that turn white, fall out, or grow in a strange direction. Other symptoms include:
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition that causes your hair to fall out in patches. Alopecia areata often affects the scalp and can cause hair loss ranging from small patches to complete baldness.
It can also cause patchy hair loss that affects your:
A 2019 research review showed that it is common for people with alopecia areata to experience temporary white hair when hair regrows. Sometimes, white hair is permanent.
Read also: Step-by-Step Flat Iron Curls
Sometimes hair can develop in strange ways due to gene mutations or hormonal factors. Some hairs might abnormally turn white for no apparent reason even in young people and may not be linked to any particular medical conditions.
Several genes appear to be responsible for the process of greying. Bcl2 and Bcl-w[7] were the first two discovered, then in 2016, the IRF4 (interferon regulatory factor 4) gene was announced after a study of 6,000 people living in five Latin American countries.
The National Institutes of Health says that stress can potentially cause your hair to gray prematurely by causing changes to the stem cells in your hair follicles that regenerate hair pigment. However, the link between stress and hair graying still isn’t fully understood, and researchers are continuing to examine the link.
Anecdotes report that stress, both chronic and acute, may induce achromotrichia earlier in individuals than it otherwise would have. There is some evidence for chronic stress causing premature achromotrichia, but no definite link has been established. It is known that the stress hormone cortisol accumulates in human hair over time, but whether this has any effect on hair color has not yet been resolved. A 2020 paper, published in the journal Nature reported that stress can cause hair to lose its pigment. An overactive immune response can destroy melanocytes and melanocyte stem cells in black-haired rats. When intentionally subjecting them to panic, they bleached their coat.
Poliosis is a patch of white or gray hair on your scalp, eyelashes, or other parts of your body. It can occur at birth or can appear suddenly at any age. Poliosis itself isn’t harmful, but it may be triggered by some medical conditions like thyroid disorders and vitamin B12 deficiency. Pathological localized whitening of eyebrow and eyelash whitening is termed poliosis.
Poliosis may be due to inflammatory ophthalmic conditions such as chronic blepharitis, Herpes zoster infection, Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome sarcoidosis, vitiligo, tuberous sclerosis, sympathic ophthalmia, post-irradiation, or halo nevus.
A thyroid disorder can cause premature white hair due to changes in hormone levels that affect your melanin production. Thyroid disorders are also associated with poliosis.
Developing premature white hair can be a sign of vitamin B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 deficiency can be caused by malnutrition or a condition called pernicious anemia, when your gut can’t properly absorb vitamin B12 from your food.
A 2018 research review found a strong association between smoking and premature graying. It’s thought that smoking increases oxidative damage to the cells in your hair follicles that contain melanin.
A single long white eyelash may grow in the absence of any particular medical condition. A 2015 case study reported this happening in a 9-year-old girl. It was the first medical case reported, but other people have posted pictures or videos of themselves with this occurrence online.
In the 2015 case study, doctors found no physical abnormalities in the girl. She had a family history of early graying, but otherwise had nothing else remarkable in her medical history.
Another 2018 research review found that white hair grows faster than colored hair, so it’s possible that any condition that causes white hair could lead to a single long white hair.
Many of the same conditions that can cause white eyelashes in adults can cause them in children. Some possible explanations include:
Excessive exposure to the sun is the most common cause of structural damage of the hair shaft. Photochemical hair damage encompasses hair protein degradation and loss, as well as hair pigment deterioration. Photobleaching is common among people with European ancestry. Around 72 percent of customers who agreed to be involved in a study and have European ancestry reported in a recent 23andMe research that the sun lightens their hair.
Malnutrition is also known to cause hair to become lighter, thinner, and more brittle. Dark hair may turn reddish or blondish due to the decreased production of melanin.
White eyelashes by themselves don’t require treatment, but it’s important to treat other symptoms if they’re caused by an underlying condition.
Here are some potential ways to address white eyelashes:
If you’re bothered by the appearance of your white lashes, one option is to dye them. Our jet-black tubing mascara can be applied in seconds, thickening and lengthening your lashes with absolutely no smudging. If you only have one or a few white hairs, you could also try plucking them.
If stress is contributing to your white hair, reducing stress may help improve your overall health but is unlikely to reverse graying. If you’re low in vitamin B12, you may need to make dietary changes.
Many types of thyroid disorders are treatable with medication. Blepharitis and vitiligo may also require medication for treatment. Alopecia areata is sometimes treated with corticosteroids.
There seem to be some medical treatments that can reverse poliosis. One 2013 study published in Dermatological Surgery found that a skin grafting treatment, followed by light-therapy for 4-11 months, managed to reverse poliosis combined with vitiligo. A 2016 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology tested a treatment on a 37-year-old man with poliosis and vitiligo, affecting his left eyebrow. The treatment involved therapy sessions with a laser, as well as daily applications of an ointment, and daily oral medication. At 6 months after the start of the treatment, and after 44 therapy sessions with the laser, 75 percent of the color had returned to the eyebrow. These treatments are quite intensive and time-consuming. Most people with poliosis might choose not to look for medical treatments, but instead let the hair remain as it is, or else dye it, as an easy way of covering up the white.
It’s a good idea to call a doctor if you develop white eyelashes and you don’t expect that aging is the cause. Most conditions that cause white eyelashes aren’t serious, but it’s still a good idea to rule out an underlying condition, such as a thyroid disorder.
It’s also a good idea to contact your doctor if your child develops gray hair, to rule out potential health concerns.
tags: #eyelashes #turning #grey #with #age #causes
