If you get infected by syphilis the first time and you do not treat it, it will move on to attack you another time with different symptoms altogether and is known as secondary syphilis. Syphilis is a disease that is caused by spiral bacteria. The disease is spread through direct contact with a person that has a chancre (a sore that is caused by syphilis). These chancres normally occur on the genitals, the reason why it is a sexually transmitted disease. Chancres can also however occur in the mouth and lips. In the first stage syphilis,it does not cause any hair loss except if the hair happens to be where the chancre is. When the disease is allowed to move on to the next stage it will cause hair loss. We are going to look at secondary syphilis causing hair loss.

In the secondary stage, syphilis becomes characterized by skin rashes and lesions on mucous membranes. These rashes can make their way to the scalp where they can form inflammations on the hair follicles. This will affect hair follicles making them itch such that you may scratch out the hairs yourself. The rashes can also be responsible for damaging hair follicles and affecting the integrity of hair shafts thus causing hair loss. Hair loss associated with syphilis is in the form of patches and follows no specific pattern. The lesions of this secondary infection contain bacteria that will infect other people if they come into contact with the lesions. Secondary syphilis has to be treated once you have noticed it from its secondary symptoms, if it is not treated the disease will go on and advance each and every time such that the result may be death, for syphilis can kill.

The moment you realize you have syphilis, you need to consult a doctor straight away so you can be prescribed some medicine that will help kill this deadly bacterial disease. Syphilis treatment involves the use of some antibiotics. Once you have treated the disease, there are likely chances that damaged hair follicles will recover and hair patches will begin to show signs of hair growth. If the hair follicles have been extensively damaged, it is possible for them to be treated, so they can continue to produce hair and remove hair patches.

Common treatments for hair loss due to syphilis include drugs such as finasteride and minoxidil. These two drugs have been approved by the FDA and have been proven to be effective at bringing even the most dormant hair follicles back into the hair production cycle. The good part of using these drugs is that they are in the form of topical creams and capsules, so you do not go under any surgical procedures when you are treating hair loss problems with these drugs.

Secondary syphilis causing hair loss cannot be diagnosed through seeing. This means in order for the doctor to correctly diagnose the cause of your hair loss, some scalp flakes have to be collected and tested for bacterial activity.