Causes Facts About Female Hair Loss

The thought of female hair loss is not something that most women even think about, that is until it happens to them. After all isn't hair loss something primarily encountered by men?

While the incidence of balding and thinning is more common in men it is not uncommon in women. In fact one out of every four women over the age of 50 experiences the devastating effects of female pattern hair loss. If you were to add in the other possible causes into this number it could easily rise above one out of every two.

When exploring female hair loss causes likely medical condition or treatments are the first thing that comes to mind. Examples of medical conditions or treatments that cause hair loss are autoimmune disorder such as alopecia areata, hormonal disorders such as polycystic ovary syndrome, temporary, rapid and often time frightening condition known as telogen effluvium, anemia, cancer, diabetes, chemotherapy drugs, blood pressure drugs and persistently high fever.

But there is one cause of female hair loss that requires a category all to itself and that is androgenetic alopecia or female pattern baldness. Female pattern baldness as mentioned above affects one out of every four women over the age of 50. This condition is an androgen hormone (testosterone, androsteinedione, and dihydrotestosterone) driven progressive condition influenced by heredity.

The process of its onset is a complicated dance between the androgen hormone DHT and hair follicles over the course of a couple of hair cycles. Let's explore this a little further.

For those who are genetically vulnerable to androgenetic alopecia when testosterone comes in contact with the 5 alpha reductase type 2 enzyme residing in the hair cell a conversion of testosterone to the much stronger hormone dihydrotestosterone takes place. Over a number of years an excess buildup of DHT takes place.

DHT and hair are like oil and water they simply don't mix. Once dihydrotestosterone set up shop in the follicle the balding process kicks into action with more hair being lost than replaced. Some follicles will die while others will no longer be capable of producing new hair. Just a bad situation all the way around that will not reverse itself naturally.

As you can see female hair loss causes are broad ranging. With many of the medical conditions balding and thinning will reverse itself over time. Others like alopecia areata are treated with corticosteroids. But with so many different possibilities it is important to find out the cause before determining a treatment path.