Rooting out hair loss in women

More hair in the shower drain, a widening part or a smaller ponytail may be the first signs a woman is losing her hair. Hair loss in women is a common, but distressing problem.

Causes

There are several different reasons women may experience thinning hair including:

• Hair treatments: Including bleaching, permanent waving and certain hairstyles
• Stress: Such as childbirth, illness, surgery, grief, dramatic weight loss or gastric bypass surgery, cancer treatments
• Trichotillomania (hair pulling): Twisting or pulling as a bad habit or result of psychological condition
  
• Medical conditions: Including lupus, thyroid disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, starting or stopping oral contraceptives, iron or protein deficiency, chronic thyroid diseases, tinea capitis (scalp ringworm) fungal infection, alopecia areata (a rare autoimmune disorder where the body’s white blood cells attack the hair follicles) or inflammation of the hair follicles (cicatricial alopecia)
• Heredity (androgenetic alopecia): Like men, women can inherit thinning hair from either side of their family tree. Unlike men who typically have a bald patch or a receding hairline, women with hereditary hair loss, have hair that thins all over the crown, usually leaving the hairline intact.

Treatments

The earlier the cause of your hair loss is discovered and treated, the better the chances that you will be able to re-grow your lost hair.

• If hair loss is caused by stress; no treatment is usually needed since it will grow back on its own once the trigger is gone.
• Treatment of underlying medical causes may re-grow hair.
  
• Over-the-counter 2% minoxidil solution for women stimulates re-growth in about 60% of women with hereditary hair loss. The 5% minoxidil solution is not FDA approved for women, but can also be used successfully to re-grow hair.
  
• Medications such as finasteride (FDA-approved for male hair loss but used off-label for women) and anti-androgens spironolactone and flutamide are sometimes prescribed. These medications carry the risk of birth defects so oral contraceptives must be used in conjunction with them if the woman is able to get pregnant.
  
• Cortisone medication either applied to the skin or injected helps some women re-grow hair.
• Hair transplanting can be used to move hair from denser areas to thinning areas, and used in conjunction with topical or oral medications.
  

Why you need to see a dermatologist:

Dermatologists will do some detective work to get an accurate diagnosis that will give someone the best chance of re-growing their hair. They will take a complete medical history and visually inspect hair and scalp during the visit. They may ask what hair products and treatments are being used. They may also tug at a person's hair to determine the roots' health, look at hair on other parts of the body, take a scalp biopsy, do bloodwork or other testing in order to figure out the cause of the problem. And the sooner you get to the root of your hair loss problem, the more likely you'll be able to regrow your hair.

If you think your hair is thinning, call us at (509) 735-1100 to make an appointment today.

For more information, go to the American Academy of Dermatology.