Women expect to lose a certain amount of hair every day. In fact, doctors consider losing up to 100 strands of your beautiful mane each day perfectly normal. Noticing excessive shedding, however, rises up panic, fear and even shame in the one in four women who experience clinical female hair loss.
Television commercials, magazine ads, and even social media videos champion solutions for male pattern baldness. Rarely do we hear discussions of female hair loss, which makes those who suffer from the issue feel more isolated.
Telogen Effluvium
Don’t worry, we won’t make you pronounce it. Just remember it applies to temporary hair loss triggered by a disturbance in your hair cycle. This disturbance was likely a traumatic or stressful event, that happened three to four month prior to the hair loss. Stressful events include pregnancy and childbirth, menopause, certain medications, and surgery or poor diets.
Temporary hair loss normally involves sudden, overall shedding of your hair. In good news, most women find a return to their normal, healthy mane in six to nine months once the cause of hair loss is addressed.
Androgenetic Alopecia
Also known as female pattern baldness, this hair loss presents as a thinning of hair near the crown. Women typically notice a wider part and less volume in their hair sometime after menopause. The thinning may begin as early as puberty. In most cases, women with Androgenetic Alopecia will not achieve a full re-growth of their luscious locks, but they may be able to prevent or slow the rate of hair loss. Hormones and heredity both play a role in who develops female pattern baldness.
Alopecia Areata
Unlike the previous types of hair loss, alopecia areata emerges as patchy bald sections most often on the head but it may also appear in other areas of the body. Baldness occurs when the body’s immune system attacks hair follicles. Alopecia areata affects slightly more men than women. Around 70% of women will experience regrowth of their hair within two years even without treatment.
Hair loss rarely causes physical pain, but for women and some men, hair loss can trigger emotional responses including depression, decreased self-confidence and increased self-consciousness. If you’ve noticed increased hair loss leading to baldness, contact your medical provider to determine the cause of hair loss and treatment options. Also contact our behavioral health clinic for assistance managing the emotional response to female hair loss.
Speak Your Mind