Female Hair Loss

Female hair loss is a common and often devastating condition, however getting the right help early can result in successful treatment. As a medical company specialising in hair loss treatment, Martinick Hair Restoration is committed to raising awareness about the importance of seeking a clinical diagnosis for hair loss.  In most cases, seeking advice from an appropriate medical authority during the early stages of hair loss will result in a much better outcome for the patient.

The clinical consultation for hair loss

When attending a clinical consultation women will be asked if they have had any trauma, stress, fever, major operations, child birth or taken medications. Patients are also asked if there is a family history of hair loss and hair analysis and blood tests may be taken.

Causes of female hair loss

Affecting at least 50% of women at some stage of their lives, female hair loss can be due to a range of factors including stress, anaemia or other nutritional deficiencies, use of certain medications, anti-cancer drugs, hormonal changes, trauma and genetic factors. The good news is that women are in a stronger position to take control of their hair loss when armed with relevant medical advice.

Like men, hair loss in women can also be triggered by genetic factors.  Female Pattern Hair Loss (FPHL), or what is medically termed androgenetic alopecia, can occur from puberty onwards.  If a woman is predisposed to androgenetic alopecia, hair loss can be triggered by taking contraceptives containing androgenic progesterone.  Other causes of hair loss, other than androgenetic alopecia, include the compulsive hair pulling disorder, trichotillomania, the auto immune disorder alopecia areata, triangular alopecia, scarring alopecia and telogen effluvium.

While female hair loss can also be due to a simple nutritional deficiency, many women are unaware it can be due to other medical conditions or the medication they are taking.  Although it is widely known that anti-cancer drugs cause hair loss, women often don’t realise that a lot of other medications cause the same side effect.

There are close to 300 medications that cause alopecia medicamentosa – a type of diffuse hair loss related to taking certain medications. Hair loss occurring as a result of medication almost always stops when people stop taking it and re-growth usually occurs within three to six months.

Treatments for female hair loss

Depending on the cause of hair loss, the treatments offered can include low level laser treatment, shampoos, medications, topical solutions and nutritional supplements.  Hair loss caused by poor nutrition can successfully be treated with nutritional supplements such as iron, essential fatty acids and vitamins and minerals. Supplements such as the Help Hair Protein Shake ™ are achieving great results for women all over the world. Camouflage solutions such as hair fibres and scalp micro pigmentation are also used by many women with hair loss.

Hair transplantation for women

As with men, the most successful and enduring solution for treating permanent female hair loss, is with hair transplantation.  Hundreds of women have entrusted Martinick Hair Restoration clinics to permanently restore their hair with hair transplant surgery. There are many cases where relatively small transplant procedures performed under the principles of the Martinick Technique™ have enabled women to regrow their hair on bald spots and/or scarred parts of their head.