Question:
I am a woman and my hair has recently been thinning all over my head. How would I go about figuring why this is happening and what can I do to stop the loss or at least slow it down?
Answer:
For most women, hair loss is due to female pattern hair loss of a genetic hair loss pattern. However, other factors can be associated with it and these can include anemia, low thyroid levels, significant weight loss, medications, and significant physical or emotional stress. In addition, two to three months post pregnancy there can be hair loss. With all the variety of etiologies, it is important for a woman to first undergo a medical workup which can be done by a qualified and experienced dermatologist or gynecologist or family practitioner, or sometimes you might need to go to a hair restoration specialist as indicated at some point. Of course, the hair restoration specialist, especially the doctors at the Foundation for Hair Restoration who specialize in the treatment of female pattern hair loss, can not only offer a diagnostic workup but also state of the art treatments. These treatments can include the use of laser light therapy which does work in about 60-70% of women to slow down or stop shedding, Rogaine which works in around one-third of all women, a variety of other medications, most of which are relatively ineffective, and then the gold standard which is hair transplantation.
Posted by Jeffrey S. Epstein, MD, FACS
