Female Hair Loss

Causes of Hair Loss in Women

Hair loss is often gradual, meaning you don’t tend to notice your hair loss until half of your hair is gone. Although a typical person sheds between 80 and 150 hairs a day, a woman who notices that her hair is significantly thinning is probably suffering from a more excessive hair loss. In these cases, the hair follicles are not regenerating hair strands that have fallen out, or the hair is just becoming thinner. Women differ from their male counterparts with their hair loss more often being diffuse and many more factors come to play in diagnosing the cause of a woman’s hair loss.

 

While inherited genetics present as the most common cause of female hair loss, there are other causes of their hair loss that must be explored and eliminated

Medical conditions that can cause diffuse hair loss in women:

  • Hormonal changes
  • Discontinuation of birth control pills
  • Obstetric and gynecologic conditions such as post-partum and post-menopausal states or ovarian tumors
  • Anemia or iron deficiency
  • Thyroid disease and the medications used to treat it
  • Poor nutrition caused by sudden changes in diet, crash dieting, bulimia, protein/calorie deficiency, essential fatty acid or zinc deficiency, malabsorbtion, hypervitaminosis A Lupus – a connective tissue disease
  • Stress or trauma – surgical procedures, general anesthesia, and severe emotional problems
  • Various medications
  • Traction Alopecia or hair loss caused from trauma, excessive tension on hair from wearing hairstyles or braiding that is very tight

A medical exam and blood lab work is often required for the proper diagnosis of female pattern hair loss. If certain medical causes can be identified and treated, female hair loss can in many cases be reversed.

 

Classification of Hair Loss in Women

For women presenting with diffuse hair loss caused by family genetics but who are maintaining their frontal hairline, the Ludwig Classification is used to define and describe the stages of hair thinning.

 

The Ludwig Classification uses three stages to describe female pattern genetic hair loss:

Ludwig Type I: Mild

Type I: Mild
Early thinning that can be easily camouflaged with proper grooming. Type I patients may have too little hair loss to consider surgical hair restoration and may be helped by medical and/or laser therapy.
Ludwig Type II: Moderate

Type II: Moderate
Significant widening of the midline part and noticeably decreased volume. Hair transplantation may be indicated if the donor area in the back of the scalp is strong and dense.
Ludwig Type III: Extensive

Type III: Extensive
A thin, see-through look on the top of the scalp. This is often associated with generalized thinning.

With the advancements in non surgical hair loss treatments and surgical hair restoration, techniques, women today have more options for treating their hair loss than in the past. As Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) has evolved, women who have taken the necessary actions to get a proper diagnosis of what is causing their hair loss and who have a strong, stable donor area generally make excellent surgical hair restoration candidates. However, it is important for female surgical hair restoration patients to understand the limitations of working in smaller aesthetic zones or areas. Although more commonly associated with men’s pattern loss, women who present with the “M” pattern loss in the hairline and frontal temporal corners, are very good surgical candidates. For women, surgical hair restoration is method of improving the appearance or aesthetic density in areas where there is loss. Multiple surgeries may be recommended.

 

Other treatment options available for consideration in treating female hair loss are medical therapies like Viviscal and Minoxidil and Laser Therapy.

 

To view Female Before and After Photos, click here

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