Hair Restoration for Women: Confronting Embarrassing Hair Loss Issues

Hair restoration for women is a popular topic among the female population, since hair loss is usually a more pressing and embarrassing issue among women than in men.

Females are seen as more concerned about their looks and physical appearance than males, and hair restoration for women is seen as the answer to the humiliating problem of losing one’s “crowning glory.”

 

While advertisements for male hair restoration are everywhere and obviously outnumber those for females, hair loss actually affects as many as two-thirds of all women. Fortunately, hair loss in women usually does not result in complete baldness, as is often the case with men.

Estrogen and Hair Loss in Women

The role of estrogen in human hair growth remains unclear. Physicians prescribe both oral and topical estrogens to restore hair growth in women, although there are no controlled studies to support the use of this hormone.

Researchers who have examined hair loss treatment for the two most common types of hair loss – androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata – have issued a warning to women who use oral contraceptives in restoring hair. Experts said they should choose those with little or no androgenic activity, such as norgestimate or ethynodiol diacetate. They also warn that women with androgenetic aplopecia should not use testosterone or androgen precursors such as DHEA.

Two Common Types of Hair Loss in Women

• Alopecia areata – This is an immune disease that affects almost two percent of the United States population. This type of hair loss appears in various degrees of severity – from small, round patches that heal without medical treatment, to chronic and extensive hair loss that can involves the disappearance of all hair from the scalp or body.This type of hair loss equally affects both men and women and can occur at any age, although it affects mostly children and young adults.Hair restoration for women involving this type of hair loss includes therapies such as glucocorticoids, topical immunotherapy, anthralin, or biologic-response modifiers (e.g. Minoxidil). The extent of hair loss and the choice of treatment to restore hair depend on one’s age.Milder cases often see a greater improvement with treatment than severe cases. However, in no case does treatment restore full hair in patients with 100% scalp or body hair loss.
• Androgenetic alopecia – Alopecia in men is popularly known as male-pattern baldness, or hair loss that starts at the front of the scalp and recedes backward over time. The hair at the center of the scalp eventually becomes thin and falls out. In contrast, women plagued with this disease experience uniform hair thinning. Women who develop androgenetic alopecia may be suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Hair Restoration for Women: Popular Methods

• Hair Restoration Products
  The use of treatment products is a popular hair restoration for women method. However, only two hair restoration products, Rogaine and Propecia, have managed to achieve Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in the United States. Once a woman starts using these hair restoration products, she needs to continue doing so for the rest of her life to prevent further hair loss.
• Hormone Treatments
  Hormone treatments are an effective hair restoration option for women, since testosterone (known as the male hormone) causes the problem in the first place. Menopausal or post-menopausal women experiencing hair loss could look into hormone treatment as a hair loss restoration method.
• Immune-Based Hair Restoration Techniques
  In the case of alopecia, which is traced to a defective immune system, hair restoration for women depends on the treatment of the disorder that caused the immune system to “malfunction.” These kinds of hair loss treatments depend on the severity of the alopecia and the age of the patient concerned. In some severe cases, even these hair restoration techniques may not be as effective as hoped.
• Natural Remedies
  There are several natural hair restoration treatments that women experiencing hair loss could try, although these natural remedies are most effective only in mild cases. Natural remedies are also more effective as preventative measures than as hair restoration treatments. Speaking to a doctor, herbalist or pharmacist may help a woman find a natural hair medication that works for her.
• Surgical Hair Restoration
  A more permanent, but more costly, hair restoration option is surgical hair restoration. This includes hair grafting, flap surgery, scalp expansion and scalp reduction.

Surgical Hair Restoration for Women

Surgical hair restoration is said to be more apt for men than for women. In men, hair donor sites are described as stable sites, which mean that the hair and follicles in those areas are not affected by dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT shrinks follicles elsewhere on the head.

In female pattern baldness, however, these donor areas are usually unstable—affected by follicle-killing DHT. This means removing hair and its accompanying follicles from donor areas in women and transplanting them to other areas would be a futile endeavor. Transplanted hair in women afflicted by female pattern baldness will just fall out.

Another difference between male and female pattern baldness is the frontal hairline. Unlike men, women with hair loss tend to keep their frontal hairline. They do not have to worry about needing a hair transplant to frame their face and are instead more concerned about the loss of volume from the top of the head and back. It must be noted that hair transplants do not do much to increase hair volume. Hair transplantation just moves hair from one place to another.

Good Female Candidates for Hair Transplant

According to hair loss experts, only a very small percentage of women are candidates for hair transplant surgery. About two to five percent of women with hair loss will benefit from this type of procedure:

• Women who have suffered non-hormonal hair loss due to mechanical or traction alopecia.
• Women who have had previous cosmetic or plastic surgery and are concerned about hair loss around the incision sites.
• Women who possess a distinct baldness pattern, similar to that of male pattern baldness. The distinct baldness pattern is characterized by hairline recession, vertex thinning (on the crown or top of the scalp), and a donor area that is not affected by androgenetic alopecia.
• Women who suffer hair loss caused by trauma, including burn victims, those scarred by accidents, and those disfigured by chemical burns.
• Women with alopecia marginalis, a condition that looks very similar to traction alopecia.

Hair restoration for women need not be a difficult issue to tackle. There are actually many options to choose from—humiliation and misery brought about by hair loss can now be a thing of the past. Both women and men interested in different hair restoration alternatives and procedures could read our article on hair restoration options.