How To Deal With Hair Loss As A Woman

Overview

What's pilus loss in women?

Hair loss in women is just that — when a woman experiences unexpected, heavy loss of pilus. Generally, humans shed between 50 and 100 unmarried hairs per day. Hair shedding is role of a natural balance — some hairs fall out while others grow in. When the balance is interrupted — when hair falls out and less hair grows in — hair loss happens. Hair loss is different than hair shedding. The medical term for hair loss is "alopecia."

Hair grows on almost all of your skin surfaces — not the palms of your easily, soles of your anxiety, lips or eyelids. Light, fine, short hair is chosen vellus hair. Terminal/androgenic hair is thicker, darker and longer.

What are the cycles of pilus growth?

Hair goes through three cycles:

The anagen phase (growing phase) can terminal from two years to viii years. This phase more often than not refers to about 85% to 90% of the hair on your head.
The catagen phase (transition stage) is the time that hair follicles shrink and takes about 2 to three weeks.
The telogen phase (resting phase) takes almost two to four months. At the end of this stage, the pilus falls out.

Your shorter hairs like eyelashes, arm and leg pilus and eyebrows take a short anagen stage — about one calendar month. Your scalp hair can final up to six years or even longer.

What are the types of hair loss?

In that location are 3: anagen effluvium, telogen effluvium and FPHL.

Anagen fetor: This is caused by medications that poison a growing hair follicle (like chemotherapy).
Telogen effluvium: This is caused by an increased number of pilus follicles reaching the telogen phase, which is the stage where hair falls out.
Androgenetic baldness/female blueprint alopecia/female person pattern pilus loss (FPHL)/baldness: This type is the almost mutual. Pilus thins over the top of the caput and on the sides.

How common is hair loss in women?

Many people think that pilus loss only affects men. Nevertheless, information technology is estimated that more than 50% of women will feel noticeable hair loss. The most significant cause of pilus loss in women is female-pattern hair loss (FPHL), which affects near one-third of susceptible women, which equals out to some 30 one thousand thousand women in the United States.

Which women are likely to experience pilus loss?

Any daughter or adult female can be affected by hair loss. However, information technology is usually more common in:

Women older than xl.
Women who have just had babies.
Women who have had chemotherapy and those who have been affected by other medications.
Women who often have hairstyles that pull on the hair (like tight ponytails or tight braids) or employ harsh chemicals on their pilus.
Menopausal women.

What are the myths about hair loss?

Myths about hair loss are widespread. Nothing in the following list is true:

You lot're losing hair considering you lot shampoo it too much, or because yous've colored information technology or gotten a perm.
Dandruff causes permanent hair loss in women.
Stress causes permanent hair loss in women.
If you shave your head, your pilus will grow back twice as thick.
If you stand on your head you'll increase circulation, stimulating hair growth.
If you brush your hair 100 strokes a day that volition brand your hair healthier.
Hats and wigs cause hair loss in women.
Hair loss simply affects intellectual women.

Symptoms and Causes

What are the mutual causes of hair loss in women?

What causes hair loss?

Hair manner: Your style of hair can cause hair loss when your hair is arranged in ways that pull on your roots, like tight ponytails, braids, or corn rows. This type of hair loss is called traction baldness. If hair follicles are damaged, the loss tin can be permanent.
Vitamin deficiency.
Dieting (rapid weight loss).
Restrictive diets.
Over processed scalp hair (breakage).

What causes anagen effluvium pilus loss?

Toxic substances, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy and some medications. These crusade sudden hair loss that can occur anywhere on your trunk. It happens to hair in the growth stage. Sometimes, this type of hair loss tin can be permanent if your hair follicles are damaged.

What causes telogen effluvium hair loss?

Extreme physical stress or shock to your body: This causes temporary pilus loss. This category includes events like losing a lot of weight, surgery, anemia, illness and having a babe.
Farthermost emotional stress: mental affliction, the death of a loved 1, etc.
An abnormal thyroid.
Medications and supplements: claret pressure medicines, gout medicines and high doses of Vitamin A.
Hormone changes caused past pregnancy, menopause or nascency control pills.

What causes FPHL (Female person Pattern Hair Loss)?

Genes: Your family'south genes tin can crusade thinning of hair along the top of your caput.
Aging: Hormone changes as you age tin can cause balding.
Menopause: This type of hair loss often gets worse when estrogen is lost during menopause.

In that location are also some conditions that touch hair loss:

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune skin illness that causes patchy hair loss on your caput and possibly other places on your trunk. It's usually non permanent.

What is the relationship between hair loss in women and menopause?

During menopause, you might see ane of two things happen with your hair. You lot might start growing hair where yous didn't before. Or, you might see the hair y'all accept start to thin. Ane crusade may be irresolute levels of hormones during menopause. Estrogen and progesterone levels autumn, meaning that the effects of the androgens, male hormones, are increased.

During and afterward menopause, hair might get finer (thinner) because hair follicles shrink. Pilus grows more than slowly and falls out more easily in these cases.

Your healthcare provider will practice a thorough examination and take a detailed history to assistance you bargain with changes in hair growth. Yous may be directed to have your iron levels or thyroid hormone levels tested. Your medications might exist changed if what you take is institute to affect pilus loss or growth.

What are the signs of pilus loss in women?

Seeing more pilus autumn out daily either on your brush, on the floor, in showers, on your pillows, or in the sink.
Seeing noticeable patches of thinner or missing pilus, including a part on the top of your head that gets wider.
Seeing scalp skin through hair
Having smaller ponytails.
Seeing pilus suspension off.

Diagnosis and Tests

How will a healthcare provider diagnose hair loss in women? What tests are done?

The tests performed to diagnose hair loss in women can be simple or complicated:

Gently pulling on your hair to run across how many hairs come out.
Claret tests. These check for vitamin and mineral levels (similar vitamin D, vitamin B, zinc and iron) and hormone levels (including thyroid and sex hormones).
Scalp exam under a microscope and trichoscopy.
Scalp biopsy to remove and examine a very small piece of scalp skin.

What questions might your healthcare provider ask to diagnose and categorize your hair loss?

Your healthcare provider might ask virtually your habits:

What kinds of pilus products practise y'all use?
What kinds of hair styles practise yous clothing?
What types of food exercise you eat (protein is important for hair growth)?
Do yous have a habit of pulling your hair out (trichotillomania)?

They might ask about your history:

Has anyone in your immediate family experienced hair loss?
Is there anything stressful going on in your life?
What medications and supplements do you have every twenty-four hours?
Has pilus loss always happened to you lot before?
What foods are in your nutrition?

And, they might enquire about your observations:

How long have you been losing hair?
Have you been shedding more?
Have y'all noticed hair loss in places other than your scalp, similar your eyebrows? Leg and arm pilus?
Does anything worsen your hair loss?
Does anything improve your hair loss?
Have you noticed hair loss occasionally or has it been going on continuously?
Have you noticed if your hair growth has changed?
Has your pilus been breaking more often?

Direction and Handling

What kind of healthcare provider treats hair loss?

You may be treated by a dermatologist.

How is hair loss in women treated? What medicines or supplements may assistance?

Treatment depends on the crusade of your hair loss.

In cases where the loss is due to stress or hormone changes like pregnancy, at that place might be no handling needed. The hair loss will finish after a menstruation of time.
In cases of hair loss beingness due to hair styling practices, similar tight braids or ponytails or sure chemicals, treatment means not doing the things that caused the damage.
In cases due to nutritional deficiencies, y'all might be told to accept supplements. For example, you might be told to take a multivitamin and three to 5 milligrams of biotin daily.
Minoxidil (Rogaine®) is approved for treating FPHL. The 2% or 5% solution tin can be purchased in stores. All the same, you have to follow directions exactly and use the product indefinitely. Don't use this production if you're meaning, if y'all plan to get significant, or if you're breastfeeding.
The HairMax Lasercomb® low calorie-free light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation is canonical by the U.s. FDA to treat FPHL. Another FDA-approved laser product is the Theradome LH80 PRO® helmet and low light laser helmets and caps.

Other medications that have been studied, only not approved, for hair loss in women include:

Spironolactone and other anti-androgens.
Finasteride and other alpha-reductase enzyme inhibitors.
Estrogens.
Prostaglandin analogs.
Steroids.
Other light treatments.

Information technology is important to note that premenopausal women should not take medications for hair loss handling without using contraception. Many drugs, including minoxidil and finasteride, are non safe for pregnant women or women who want to become pregnant.

Hair transplant surgery is another pick. Small pieces of scalp with hair follicles are taken from the back of the head and moved to slits in the areas of baldness. Potential issues with this treatment include the usual risks of surgery like infection, folliculitis and shock loss — where the hair falls out in the transplant area. In cases where the bald areas are large, there might be trouble trying to find enough pilus to transplant. In addition, the surgery can be costly and is normally non covered past insurance.
Injections of protein-rich plasma (PRP) have besides been done to encourage hair growth. PRP is generally made from claret fatigued from a patient. The platelets are removed and concentrated and so added back to the blood for injection.
Microneedling of the scalp with and without the application of minoxidil.

Are there complications/side effects of treatment?

Minoxidil may irritate your scalp and cause dryness, scaling, itching and/or redness. Come across your dermatologist if this happens.

With Minoxidil you might besides see hair growing in other places other than your scalp (cheeks and forehead, for example). Wash your face after you apply Minoxidil and brand sure you avoid other areas when yous apply it.

Prevention

How tin hair loss in women exist prevented?

Preventing hair loss is not possible when information technology is due to disease, aging, heredity or concrete stressors like injuries. You can prevent hair loss caused by caustic chemicals or tight hairstyles by fugitive them. You might exist able to forestall some hair loss by eating a healthy nutrition that provides necessary nutrients in terms of vitamins, minerals and protein. Yous tin can finish smoking.

Outlook / Prognosis

What is the prognosis/outlook for women with hair loss?

Your diagnosis determines the prognosis:

Anagen and telogen shedding may terminate with time.
Treat whatever diseases associated with hair loss.
Disguise or cover your hair loss using a wig or hat.
Early treatment of alopecia may reduce the speed of thinning and may promote regrowth.

While hair loss is not itself dangerous, women with hair loss tend to be very upset by the changes to their appearance. These negative feelings tin touch on self-esteem and social lives. Recent studies advise that FPHL tin be associated with conditions that include metabolic syndrome, endocrine disorders and diabetes.

Living With

What are some tips for dealing with hair loss in women?

There are some things yous can do on your own. You might check with your stylist or try some of these:

Coloring your hair adds volume to the strands, making your pilus seem fuller.
Massaging your head, like when you are washing your hair, can stimulate claret flow to the scalp and hair follicles.
Getting your pilus cut shorter, and having layers added, can brand your hair seem fuller.
Using the right kind of shampoo can besides assist. Look for a shampoo that adds volume without using sulfate detergents.
Using the right kind of product at the right time can besides assist. There are products that add volume that you add together while your hair is still wet. However, using likewise much production can add weight.

When should I see my healthcare provider?

See a dermatologist as shortly as possible when you observe hair loss. The sooner you get treatment, the more effective information technology will be.

What questions should I inquire my healthcare provider?

What is the cause of my hair loss?
How many strands of hair am I losing per twenty-four hours?
What type of hair loss do I have?
Will my hair loss be permanent?
What'due south the all-time treatment for me?

A note from Cleveland Clinic

Hair loss may cause you lot distress whether it happens because of genetics, a affliction, or even stress. Know that there are some treatments y'all tin try, and expert dermatologists are there to aid you lot. Your hair loss may exist able to be reversed. Come across your healthcare provider equally soon as you notice something wrong because the sooner you lot start treatment, the better.