Hair loss in women

The problem of hair loss in women is actually no less common than in men. However hair loss in women can be treated much more easily as it is generally caused by temporary health problems.

Androgenic alopecia is an inherited form of hair loss. Whilst it is most prevalent in men a small percent of women are also genetically predisposed to it.

Hormonal changes – some women’s hair becomes thinner during the menopause as a result of hormonal changes.

Pregnancy requires the body to redistribute resources between mother and child; as a result hair loss can occur during pregnancy as a consequence of the body's metabolic imbalance. For the same reason many pregnant women also face a range of other problems, for example, calcium deficiency. As a rule, hair loss ceases one or two months after delivery.

Stress is the most common cause of hair loss in women. It is often difficult to diagnose stress related hair loss, as the first signs of hair loss can become evident months after its cause.

Physical and emotional exhaustion are always reflected in the body's condition. The consequences of stress can include hair loss, brittle nails, toothache and skin problems.

Diet and starvation – some women periodically keep radical diets, particularly when aiming to lose weight quickly. The malnutrition caused by extreme dieting can have a strong negative influence on hair growth.

Those engaging in radical dieting can experience a number of unforeseen consequences, as with stress consequences can include, brittle nails, toothache and skin problems in addition to hair loss.

Chemotherapy – pharmaceutical treatment of cancer often results in full hair loss. It occurs because the medicines used during cancer treatment, kill rapidly growing cancer cells that are beyond the patient’s control. However, the drugs also affect other rapidly growing cells such as hair cells causing loss of hair.

The cancer treatment process then results in a pause in hair growth. Upon finishing treatment hairs begin to grow again, but can often break as they come up through the skin of the head.

New hairs can differ from the original hairs because for a while they will remain under the effect of the medication.

All kinds of uninherited hair loss are curable or resolve themselves after the cause of the problem has been removed. However, the only long-term solution to androgenetic hair loss is a hair transplant.

 

  Next “Pharmaceutical treatment”