Hair Restoration In Women
Thinning hair or hair loss can be a devastating blow to anyone’s self-esteem, especially so for women. That is a sobering thought when you realize that more than half of all women experience hair loss at some point in their lives.
What Is The Reason For Hair Loss in Women?
The Mayo Clinic notes that many conditions can be responsible for hair loss in women, including hormonal changes (pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause being specifically noted) and thyroid issues. All of these may involve a genetic predisposition, depending on the case. It also points out several hair styling techniques that can contribute to hair loss.
Autoimmune Hair Loss
The autoimmune system is your body’s defense against disease. Sometimes that defense system turns against the body it is supposed to protect.
Alopecia areata is the most common example of this and is usually identified due to the patchy hair loss it presents. It is a disorder of the autoimmune system that causes the body’s defenses to attack the hair follicles causing them to become inflamed and resulting in hair loss. Alopecia in women is the most frequently encountered source of hair loss for their gender.
Thyroid Hair Loss
Thyroid problems such as hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism can cause hair loss – sometimes acute and long lasting. This usually presents itself as an overall thinning of the hair across the entire scalp.
This type of hair loss can be stopped, and growth restored, by treating the underlying thyroid condition. Once cured, the hair usually regrows… but not always fully and the process can take many months.
Hormonal Hair Loss
Hormonal imbalances can result from myriad factors ranging from stress to medical procedures and have a drastic impact on hair loss. Androgenetic alopecia, or female pattern baldness is caused by a change in the levels of androgens (a sex hormone) which causes the growth phase of the hair to shorten and the follicles to shrink.
In men, this usually presents itself as a receding hairline. But in women it shows up as hair loss on top of the head. In most cases, this is a reversible condition.
Treatment and Styling Hair Loss
Many common hairstyles – such as cornrow braids, buns, or pigtails – put tension on the hair (especially if pulled tightly) and apply strain to the hair follicles. The hair loss this produces is referred to as traction alopecia. This can often be halted, and the hair regrown, if a diagnosis is made early enough and the person takes a break from the problematic hair style before too much damage has been done. If the condition continues for too long, the damage to the hair follicles can result in permanent hair loss.
People who get their hair professionally styled on a frequent basis should also be wary of the strain that perms, hot oil therapies, and some other styling procedures can do to the hair shaft and hair follicles. Heat or chemical based hair treatments can do permanent damage, especially when repeated on a frequent basis.
Does Hair Restoration Work for Women?
In the majority of cases, hair restoration for women does work.
Hair transplants have an extremely high success rate, falling in the 85-95% range for most women as opposed to the 95-98% success rate for men. In addition, advances in technology now allow successful treatment of female alopecia cases that earlier techniques could not.
