The Truth Behind Female Pattern Baldness

Female pattern baldness is rarely discussed, but many women suffer from the ill effects of thinning and balding every day.

New York (I-Newswire) September 5, 2012 - While the concept of baldness is widely accepted among society the issue of female pattern baldness is rarely discussed. Female pattern baldness is actually quite common among the general population. Studies show that incidences of hair loss in women dramatically increase from 3 percent in their twenties to 30 percent of women in their eighties. Almost one quarter of all women are affected by some form of hair loss by the time they are in their fifties. Women treasure their hair and will often go to great lengths to hide their hair loss cosmetically with a variety of hairstyles and treatments. The loss or thinning of a woman’s hair can be extremely traumatic for women and can lead to emotional scarring, depression, and even anti social behaviors.

Hair loss patterns in women are not as easily recognizable as those in men. Female scalp hair loss commonly begins at any age through 50 and even later, it does not hold any obvious hereditary correlations, and it may not occur in any recognizable patter of thinning over the top of the scalp. A woman that notices the beginning of hair loss may be unsure if the loss is going to be a temporary instance or a permanent condition. In some cases life events such as pregnancy or illness can lead to temporary hair thinning.

The most likely cause of scalp hair loss in women is similar as it is to men and is caused by androgentic alopecia, which is an inherited sensitivity to the effects of the male hormone, androgen, on scalp hair follicles. Women with hair loss caused by this issue tend to rarely develop true baldness in the patterns that occur in men. Women for instance, rarely develop a fully balled head like the loss found in male patter androgenetic alopecia. Thinning scalp hair in women due to androgenetic alopecia do not uniformly grow smaller in diameter and miniaturize. Women with this type of hair loss tend to have diminishing hairs of various diameters over all affected areas of the scalp. A precise diagnosis as to what is causing the hair loss should be made by a physician and hair restoration speicialist.