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Hair Loss in Women!

Our society does not pay too much attention to the subject of hair loss in women. The focus is on men – there are so many jokes and commercials about baldness among men.

In addition, women's hair loss is not a social acceptable condition as like that of men. One out of every 5 women is experiencing thinning hair, but none of them knows the subject of female hair loss.

It is crucial that if you are a woman suffering from hair loss that you do not panic, because panicking will worsen the condition. You are not alone; do not lose hope; there are millions other women suffering from hair loss throughout the world.

You are not less beautiful than before; so there is no reason to lose your confidence. Women's hair loss is completely different from that of men.

Rather than experiencing complete hair loss, the female hair loss condition typically has small areas where hair is getting thinner and thinner. Although hair loss in women is partial, it has devastating consequences for the individual when it does take place.

The psychological effect is huge when compared to men in view of the fact that women consider their hair as a very important part of their beauty and find it to be a vital part of their external appearance.

Causes of Hair Loss in Women

One of the questions that is often asked is what causes hair loss in women. There are so many causes.

Hair loss effects approximately 50 percent of women. Hair loss takes the majority of women by surprise, and the effects can be embarrassing and depressing.

However, you should know the normal hair shedding process. About ten percent of your hair is shedding every day. Hair losing at this level is a normal experience. If the hair falling percentage exceeds the 10%, then you have a problem. On a minor scale, poor hair care or bad hair products are common cause of women's hair loss.

Some medicines can cause hair loss. These medicines include anticoagulants, cancer medication, medicines used for gout, birth control pills, antidepressants and Vitamin A in excessive amount. Sulpha drugs are another important cause of hair loss in women.

A serious illness and surgery are common causes of hair loss in women. This is for the most part due to the amount of stress you have acquired. Emotional stress, such as from a death in your family, can cause sudden loss of hair. Women's hair is particularly sensitive to underlying medical conditions.

One cause of hair loss in women is hormonal imbalances. In actual fact, just about all hormonal diseases can cause hair loss. Simple treatments in this case include injecting appropriate hormones to correct the imbalance.

There are various hair loss treatments, including topical and medical treatments but prevention should also play an important part.

What Causes Hair Loss in Women?

There are many causes for hair loss. However, the biggest cause of hair loss in women are the genes being passed on from one generation to another.

This common baldness is caused by specific inherited genes passed on by either parent. The common belief that hair loss comes only from the mother's side of the family is wrong.

Just because you may have the genes for baldness, does not mean they will manifest hair loss. For genes to cause baldness, a number of factors should be present – hormones, age, stress and other factors.

Women's hair loss can also be caused by pregnancy. Many women notice loss of hair a few months after delivery. This is also related to hormones – there is the loss of balance in hormones.

What can be done in this case? There is no need to worry for the reason that the hair re-growth will be back to normal after several months when hormones return to normal.

Some types of fungal infections or degenerative diseases can cause hair loss. Every now and then underlying diseases such as lupus or diabetes may also cause hair loss.

In addition to all these causes, one critical factor that can cause baldness is how you wear your hair. If you are a woman who is wearing your hair in tight fashion, then you might experience hair loss.

Consequently it is crucial to find out what causes hair loss as early as possible to stop the hair falling. Once you have lost so much hair it is very complicated to treat the condition because prevention is better than cure.

Sudden Hair Loss Causes

Sudden hair loss can have different causes but it is usually a different condition than gradual hair loss.

Sudden female hair loss is called either Anagen Effluvium or Alopecia Areata, depending on the cause. Anagen Effluvium results from both chemicals and radiation. Alopecia Areata is an immune disorder that causes hair loss.

A leading cause of sudden hair loss in woman is severe stress. This is called Telogen Effluvium. This can be emotional stress caused by a traumatic event such as the death of a family member or someone close or an accident.

It can also be stress to the body caused by a major surgery, child birth, pregnancy termination and starting or stopping birth control pills.

These types of sudden female hair loss are generally temporary and in the majority of cases hair will grow back normally.

On the other hand, there are cases where sudden hair loss continues until the underlying cause is treated. It can occur in case of thyroid gland malfunction, diabetes, anaemia and systemic lupus erythematosis. As a matter of fact, imbalance in thyroid hormone is a main cause of sudden hair loss in women.

Another cause of sudden hair loss is wearing your hair in too tight of braids, buns or ponytails. As a result, the roots become weakened and scarred, leading to permanent damage of the hair system.

Sudden hair loss in women can be a shocking experience and you may rush out and buy various products to try to get your hair to grow back. These products will almost certainly not work unless you have identified the primary cause of sudden hair loss.

Women that experience sudden hair loss should contact their doctor immediately to try to discover the key cause. If there is no stress or side effects from prescribed drugs, sudden hair loss could be a sign of the early beginning of a disease.

Medications That Cause Hair Loss in Women

Both men and women can have hair loss as one of the medications side effects. While not every woman will experience hair loss some medicines are more likely to cause hair loss than others.

Medications causing hair loss include:

- Anti-inflammatory medicines contribute to hair loss. If you must take prescribed anti-inflammatory medication, consult your doctor about the possible side effects in relation to hair loss especially if you are being prescribed Celebrex, Lodine, Rofecobix, Indocin, Clinoril, Voltaren Orudis and Naflon.

- Anabolic steroids interfere with the hormonal system and one of their side effects is hair loss in women. Medications that cause hair loss in this category are: Winstrol, Halotestin, Android, Depo-Testosterone, Danocrine, Testred, Metandren and Virilon.

- Thyroid drugs can cause hair loss. Two specific drugs include Carbimazole and Thiouracil.

The following medications are some of the possible causes of hair loss:

1. Medicines that lower cholesterol. A good example is medication called Lopid. Also Clofibrate and Gemfibrozil.

2. Blood pressure medications such as Corgard, Blocadren and Lopressor.

3. Parkinson's drugs, for example, drug called Dopar.

4. Arthritis medicines. For instance, Methotrexate, Naproxen, Penicillamine.

5. Blood thinners medications can also cause hair loss, including Inderal, Heparin and Coumarin.

In addition, chemotherapy, birth control pills and Alloppurinol (for the treatment of Gout) can cause hair loss.

If you believe that prescription medications that you are taking are causing hair loss you should talk about this with your doctor to see if you can use any other treatment.

Does Menopause Cause Hair Loss in Women?

Yes, it does. Approximately a third of women in perimenopause and menopause suffer from noticeable hair loss. Only 13% of women experience hair loss before menopause. 37% of women in menopause experience hair loss.

Hair loss in women is typically different than in men. Women will hardly ever get bald spots. The hair loss is more diffuse. It is generally an overall thinning effect. This can make hair styling significantly demanding.

Hair loss during menopause can be caused by many factors including:

- low thyroid function
- changes in hormone levels (decrease or increase)
- increased testosterone
- increased stress (physical or emotional)
- a variety of medications
- fungal infections
- scalp issues
- anemia
- genes

Hair loss due to menopause is often because of a drop in estrogen in comparison to testosterone, which does not decrease at the same rate. The result is a net excess of testosterone, leading to hair loss.

The good news is that menopausal hair loss due to falling estrogen levels is typically temporary and improves slowly.

You may also want to read about fast hair growth products.

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