 Women's Hair
Loss & What Medical Health Issues May Lurk Behind?
As many as one in four women will
experience
hair loss at some time in their
lives.
Women's hair loss is difficult to
pinpoint until it is in a progressive or
severe stage.
Hair loss in women begins in most
cases in the 40s or 50s at the onset of
menopause, though it can occur as
early as the 20s, and being seen in
increasing numbers. According to the
American Academy of Dermatology hair
loss in women is a growing problem,
affecting more than 30 million women in
the United States alone.
"Society accepts a bald man," says
Marvin Friedman, NuHair President, "It's
not a socially acceptable for a woman to
be bald in public.
Female pattern baldness is just as
common in women as it is in men, though
the timing and pattern is different."
Hair does not grow back to its
previous stage of full thick hair. It
does progress to various degrees of
baldness. Women are better at
disguising their
hair loss than men, and in women it
is generally less extensive in terms of
severity.
Women with hair loss who develop
female-pattern baldness, the hair
becomes thin over the entire scalp,
rather than concentrated in one or two
spots. Hairs become progressively finer
and shorter. Bald spots appear here or
there, some with short hair that are
broken off. Total
baldness is very rare in women with
female pattern hair loss.
Female-pattern baldness starts with
the replacement hairs becoming
progressively finer and shorter. They
can also become almost transparent.
Women during their life time may
encounter forms of losing hair condition
in a variable period of time. In most
cases and second to
female pattern hair loss, it is
Telogen Effluvium condition due to
pregnancy or child birth. It is a
hormonal factor, an estrogen level
is lower, and in other words it is an
estrogen deficiency period that causes
hair thinning. Telogen Effluvium can
occur due to crash diets, use of harsh
chemicals, due to an
emotional trauma or due to
medical health issue such as lupus,
ovary cystic, abnormal thyroid, anemia
or hormonal imbalances. It can also be
due to side effect of medication such as
anti depressants, hypertension
drugs, chemotherapy and others. It is a
temporary hair loss in which a higher
than normal percentage of hair go into a
shedding phase. However, in most cases
the hair grows back. When
female pattern baldness occurs, only
after time elapses and large thin areas
or baldness is noticed, women realize
that this time it is different. When
excessive hair loss is present, a health
care professional diagnosis is advised
to pinpoint the underlying medical
problem, not just the resulted
condition.
Female pattern baldness is most
likely affected by male
hormones called testosterone, which
cause a shut-down of the follicles in
response to DHT, a byproduct of
testosterone. "Over time, an excess
build-up [of DHT] in the follicle causes
it to begin shrinking, which in turn
alters the natural resting and growth
phases of the hair," says Reed, clinical
associate professor of dermatology at
NYU Medical Center. This is the same
condition as in male pattern baldness,
androgenic alopecia. Scientists at
Bonn University recently found that
women who pass a gene conferring high
testosterone to their sons also make
them more prone to premature baldness.
Many doctors immediately begin
treating the patients with
hair growth
medications such as
Rogaine (Minoxidil)
or
Propecia (Finasteride).
However, diagnosing the underlying
medical problem with series of tests
will benefit the patient in the long
run. Although research is still in the
early stages of assessing the causes of
women's hair loss improvements in
treating underlying illness or
abnormality in ones health is greatly
improved in the past few years. A woman
who experiences hair loss will benefit
by consulting initially with her doctor
for medical advice about her overall
individual health condition and not just
the hair loss condition outcome.
Founded in 1966,
NuHair is a full-service
hair loss treatments
hair-replacement
hair restoration
company whose services include
hair pieces,
wigs,
hair extensions and
hair-transplants referrals.
Nu Hair has been providing answers
and
solutions for hair loss at the
Dallas, Texas and the Cleveland, Ohio
facilities for over 40 years.
Nu Hair provides information on
hair
loss and
hair loss treatments and
hair transplants. You can find more
information at
women's hair loss.
Always consult your family doctor for
medical advice about your health and
your individual hair loss condition.
NuHair Publication © 2008.
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