What Causes Hair to Turn Gray?
In general gray hair is a result of natural aging. Pigment in the hair shaft comes from special cells at the root (base) of the hair, which are genetically programmed to make a certain amount of pigment (melanin) at specific ages. Someday in the aging process, these cells make less and less pigment until the hair has very little pigment. For comparison, white hair has no pigment, and gray hair has some but not as much as a red, black or brown hair.
Incidentally, not all hairs respond in the same way or at the same time. It means that the graying process usually is gradual. Anyway, you can't prevent graying. A strong role in graying is playing genetics. That’s why some people start graying in their 30s, and some not until their 60s.
When people go gray overnight, it's typically happens due to alopecia areata. Such condition causes the thicker, darker hairs to stop growing before it affects the growth of gray hairs — giving the impression of graying overnight. In due course alopecia areata causes roundish patches of hair loss or complete loss of hair on the head or body, general cause of which is still unknown.
Is it True That Hearing Loss Can be Caused by Certain Medications?
Indeed, some medications can cause hearing loss or aggravate existing hearing problems. Drugs with the potential to cause toxic reactions to structures of the inner ear are referred to as ototoxic. Side effects of such drugs on your hearing depend on the dose and length of time you take them.
Partial or complete loss of hearing caused by some ototoxic drugs may go away when you stop taking the medication. Those drugs that are known to cause permanent hearing loss are usually given only when no other alternative exists for treating a life-threatening disease.
More than 200 drugs are considered potentially ototoxic. In case you and your doctor decide that it's in your best interest to take an ototoxic drug, an audiologist may test your hearing before, while and after you take the medication. At the same time your physician will closely monitor test results to help decide how long you can continue the drug or when to change the dosage.
Under conditions of already existing loss of hearing, be sure to let your doctor know, as it can help you avoid unnecessary exposure to ototoxic drugs.
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