Why does our hair fall out?

Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken untangle the confusion around every aspect of our health and wellbeing.

In today’s episode, the Doctors explore hair loss. Chris and Xand, who've both battled the receding tide of hair loss (and the accompanying existential dread), are getting to the follicle of the matter.

They'll be digging into what causes it, how different types of hair loss affect men and women, and asking if there’s anything we can do about it. Cures for baldness are almost as old as medicine itself, but what does the evidence actually say about those treatments constantly being marketed to us?

Chris and Xand get the bald truth from Dr Christos Tziotzios, Consultant Dermatologist and Senior Lecturer at King's College London, who has recently pioneered treatments for some auto-immune forms of alopecia as well as investigating the psychological impact of hair loss in both men and women.

If you want to get in touch, you can email us at whatsupdocs@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08000 665 123.

Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken Guest: Dr Christos Tziotzios Producer: Jo Rowntree Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar Editor: Kirsten Lass Assistant Producer: Maia Miller-Lewis Assistant Producer and Researcher: William Hornbrook Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable Social Media: Leon Gower Digital Lead: Richard Berry Composer: Phoebe McFarlane Sound Design: Melvin Rickarby

At the BBC: Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4