Oxford Private Medical

Alopecia a medical term used to describe the loss of visible hair and there are many different causes.   Most people loose 50-100 hairs a day throughout their lives.  When the hair loss exceeds normal levels or is worse in a particular area this is known as 'pathological hair loss'. Male and female pattern baldness (when the hair starts to recede over both temples and on the top of the head) is common.  In men it is known to be hereditary, but in women the cause is less well known. Other causes of hair loss are usually excluded by a visit to your GP.  So if you are one of those patients who has been told that there seems to be no medical cause for your hair loss, here is what I recommend. Look at what has changed recently to see if there is an obvious cause for the hair loss Excessive shedding of the hair (known as telogen effluvium) causes thinning of the hair rather than bald patches and can be a reaction to hormonal changes (such as changes in the post nata...

I first started thinking about this having been asked to give male students from the US their HPV immunisations whilst they were visiting.  I had heard about an increase in head and neck cancers in the UK from one of my ENT colleagues.  And so I started to look into the reasons for giving HPV immunisation to boys - or for not giving the immunisation as is the case on the UK immunisation program at the moment. HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) is a common virus that affects both males and females and is transmitted through sexual contact.  It rarely causes symptoms and a high percentage of individuals in the UK will be infected with the virus at some stage in their lives. There are about 40 different types of the virus that affect the genital area and can be spread through sexual contact.  But only 2 types are responsible for causing cancer; types 16 and 18 and these can cause cancer of the cervix, vulva, vagina (women), penis (men), anus and some head and neck canc...

Hello from Dr Mark Anthony at Oxford Private Medical Practice.  I am a consultant paediatrician with a particular interest in babies from birth to two years old.   The rule of threes is useful when considering whether colic is present in a baby - crying for more than 3 hours, for 3 or more days of the week, for more than 3 weeks . The discomfort tends to be worse in the evenings. There is no test for colic and diagnosis is made by exclusion of other causes of discomfort. Persistent crying in babies is not normal. Most babies are content except for short periods of crying when hungry, needing a nappy change, tired, etc. Inconsolable crying when a baby is fed and clean can be caused by colic but also by hunger, poor feeding technique, gastroesophageal reflux, cow's milk protein intolerance (CMPI), and rarely by constipation or lactose intolerance. Distinguishing between these causes of excessive crying can be challenging. Babies with colic tend to be thriving and...