Alopecia: What is Female Pattern Baldness

Understanding Female Hair Loss

Female pattern baldness or also referred to as female pattern alopecia, affect about one third of all women. Female baldness usually involves hair loss over the entire scalp. The hair loss may be the most visible on top which will make a part in your hair appear even wider. Unlike the hair loss men face, women’s hair loss doesn’t usually consist of complete baldness. Women normally maintain their hairline in the front and on the side. The treatment for female pattern baldness depends on the cause of the problem.

Causes of Female Pattern Baldness

Individual hairs grow slowly and continuously for two to six years before the enter into the resting phase which last a few months then the hair falls out. At which point new hair grows from the same follicle shortly after. Sometimes there are conditions that develop that prevent new hair growth. The cause for female hair loss is not completely understood but it is believed that genetic plays a role in it. Hormone imbalances or sudden changes in your health can also be contributing factors.

Hormonal changes include pregnancy and the birth of a baby, starting or stopping birth control pills, and menopause. Other causes of women’s hair loss are:

• Certain medications, including some antidepressants, blood thinners, and chemotherapy treatments for cancer
• Infection or a serious illness
• Thyroid issues
• Vitamin, Iron, or other nutritional deficiencies

Sudden hair loss could indicate an onset of a disease that could include medical conditions like diabetes and lupus. A simple blood test from your doctor can determine this or if there is something more serious.

Hair Loss Treatment for Women

Sometimes there are situations where no hair loss treatment is needed, the thinning hair will resolve naturally. For example, after post-pregnancy hair loss the hair will grow back but it may take several months.

Hair loss treatments my not be medically necessary, but for many women will want to pursue hair loss treatment options because they worry about their appearance and often they experience a low self-esteem because of their hair loss. Topical medications like Rogaine (minoxidil) is a treatment that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It can achieve hair grown in about 25 percent of women who use it.

There are also amazing advances in hair replacement for both men and women this is nothing like what your grandparents may have worn. Today’s advances have given way to hair options that you wear 24-7 just like your real hair and believe me when I say, you can’t tell where your existing hair ends and the hair replacement beings. It is that incredible.

Hair transplantation is another treatment option. Small plugs of hair are removed from a donor area where there is thicker hair area like the back of the head. It is then surgically placed follicle by follicle into the scalp in the thinning areas.