Female hair loss is less apparent than male hair loss. Although the type of hair loss is the same (androgenetic alopecia), hair loss in females never causes complete baldness. Androgenetic alopecia is an inherited sensitivity towards the effect of male hormone, the androgen, on the hair follicles of the scalp. Patterns of alopecia that may develop in women include thinning of hair over the entire scalp with more effects towards the end, front portion of the scalp or, sometimes, breaching of the frontal hairline. Unlike men, hair loss is known to start in women after they are 50 years. Moreover, baldness at the top of the scalp is hardly noticed in hair loss cases of women. Sometimes, pregnancy and illness may also produce a temporary thinning of hair in women.
In case of women, since there is no sharp symptom, it is hard to self diagnose excessive hair loss. Moreover, women usually do not show the types of pattern baldness as men do. Therefore the diagnosis of hair loss should come from an experienced physician.
In case of androgenetic alopecia in women, the hair does not miniaturize (uniformly grow smaller in diameter). Women affected by androgenetic alopecia usually tend to have miniaturizing hairs of various diameters all over the scalp. However, miniaturizing of hairs may also occur due to other reasons than androgenetic alopecia and hence cannot be taken as a diagnostic symptom of the disease. For example, in post menopausal women, hair may start miniaturizing and become increasingly difficult to style.
Another important feature of female pattern hair loss is that it may start as early as in the late teens or the early 20s for women who have attained early puberty. Without proper treatment this may become severe with time.
Female hair loss due to other reasons than androgenetic alopecia may occur due to various causes. The most common reason of hair loss is associated with trichotillomania, a compulsive behavior of hair pulling. Hair loss due to trichotillomania is patchy in form and can be treated by addressing psychological reasons associated with it.
Alopecia aerate can also be common, with patchy hair loss and diffuse thinning of hair with islands of retained hairs, it is an autoimmune disorder. Triangular alopecia may also be associated with hair loss. It usually has characteristic feature of hair loss to temporal areas. Hair loss in this condition may either be complete or a few fine, thin-diameter hairs may be retained. Scarring alopecia occurs due to scarring of the scalp and is often related with tight braiding or “corn-rowing” of scalp hair. It may also be present in post menopausal women, due to inflammation of hair follicles and subsequent scarring.
Hormones, nutrition, drugs and stress contribute to hair loss type known as telogen effluvium. It is usually contributed by loose-anagen syndrome, a condition occurring primarily in fair-haired persons. In this condition, the scalp hairs are loosely attached in hair follicles and are easily extracted by combing or pulling.
The point to remember, in case of female hair loss is that if excessive hair loss is doubted, it should be checked by an experienced physician. Proper diagnosis can help to understand the cause of the hair loss and then effective treatments may be offered.