Female Pattern Baldness

It's Not Just Men Who Lose Their Hair

RobinMillerMD

Posted: Jul 11, 07 10:21am

If you're a woman experiencing excessive hair loss... you are not alone. Approximately 37-percent of women experience hair loss after menopause. The most common cause is female pattern baldness.

Female pattern baldness is hair loss from the top of the head and hairline, and general thinning over the entire head. It is normal to lose about 100 to 125 hairs a day; more than that is considered excessive hair loss.

So what causes it? There are no easy answers, but many things contribute to this, including genetics, aging, and changing hormone levels. In particular, dropping estrogen levels--in relationship to testosterone levels--can be one cause. (It's the higher ratio of testosterone to estrogen.) The most common cause of hair loss that I see is thyroid disease. It can happen with hypo- or hyperthyroidism. It also can occur with diabetes and autoimmune diseases such as lupus. But the good news is that the myth of women inheriting their baldness from their fathers is just that, a myth. Thank goodness--my dad started losing his hair in his 30s!

Bottom Line: If you are losing hair, it is important to find out if there is an underlying cause. If it is due to female pattern baldness, the one approved treatment for women is minoxidil, or Rogaine. It can stop or slow down hair loss in 20 to 25-percent of women. But it only works as long as it is being used--once stopped, hair loss continues. Hair transplants can also be effective for reducing the appearance of hair loss. In the future, you may see hormone creams for the scalp. They are in the process of being studied right now.