Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Thinning Hair In Women

One of the most common causes for hair loss thinning problems im women is a low thyroid function, which is common among women who are going through menopause. Other causes for thinning hair in women are a change in hormone levels (decrease or increase), increased testosterone increased stress (physical or emotional), various medications, scalp/dermatological issues and heredity. Anytime that sudden hair loss is experienced, you have to think about events that happened up to 3 months prior to the hair loss for possibilities of what caused the sudden hair loss. The introduction of a new medication, or a traumatic experience (like a death in the family, divorce). When taking treatments for thinning hair, women should give it at least three months to have noticeable effects.
Soy isoflavones, which have estrogenic effects (without the risk of synthetic HRT) and have helped hair thinning in women.

When the progesterone level falls as a result of lack of ovulation, the body responds by increasing its production of the adrenal cortical steroid, androstenedione, and alternative precursor for the adrenal for the production of other adrenal cortical hormones. Androstenedione conveys some androgenic (male-like) properties, in this case male pattern hair loss. This ultimately means a temporary thinning of hair in women. When progesterone levels are raised by natural progesterone supplements, the androstenedione level will gradually fall, and your normal hair growth will eventually resume. It usually takes about four to six months for the effects to become apparent because hair growth is a slow process.

Age and hormones:

Most ladies naturally experience some hair loss as they grow in age. Age, changing hormones and heredity can cause some to lose more hair loss than others. The result can be partial or total baldness, known as alopecia. About 50 percent of women with thinning hair have female-pattern baldness. It is often permanent just as in men. There have been cases of perimenopausal women for examplewo have experienced thinning and lost hair and whose hormone levels have become balanced, and can experience the thickness of previously thinning and the growth of lost hair that occurred during the ebbing and flowing hormonal years. Since hormones fluctuate with age and with condition, thinning hair in women can be a temporary or gradual condition.

Your treatment options

Hair loss that is caused by medical conditions, medications or certain stress is often treatable and reversible. Your hair may even return on its own. Although hair thinning in women caused by aging and heredity is usually permanent, you should probably ask your doctor about these options:

If your female hair loss is widespread, wigs may be a relatively inexpensive and an easy option.

Rogaine is another option which is now sold over the counter, this may help stop hair loss in some people.

Hair transplants are an options for some men, these have less satisfactory results in women with thinning hair. Though there is a new method called mircograft hair transplantation, uses single hair grafts and had been successful in selected patients.