Hair Loss Advice

"Your Hair - YOUR Choice"

Female Thinning Hair

Your hair is a good indicator of your overall health. If you start to notice that your hair is thinning, or if it starts to fall out in clumps you need to see your doctor right away. You may have an underlying medical condition that needs treatment. Keep reading to uncover important information that every woman should know about female thinning hair.

Females can be affected by pattern baldness just like men. A woman who has female pattern baldness will start to lose hair at about age thirty. The hair loss will become more noticeable at around the age of forty. By the time a woman has reached menopause the hair loss can be so profound that a wig may be required. It is important to note that female pattern baldness only happens in around 15% of women and that most cases of female thinning hair is due to another health related condition.

The following is a list of common causes of hair loss in women. The good news about these causes is that most of them are only temporary and the hair will grow back once the condition or circumstance is corrected.

  1. Medications. Specific medications can cause female thinning hair. If you are prescribed certain heart medications such as beta blockers or ACE inhibitors you could start to notice thinning hair. The same holds true for amphetamines and anti-cholesterol agents.

  2. Chemotherapy agents. If you are given chemotherapy medications as a treatment for cancer then you can expect hair loss. Most people will lose all of their hair because hair follicles grow fast and chemotherapy will kill off fast growing cells.

  3. Diseases. Certain types of diseases such as thyroid or liver disease can cause thinning hair. Hepatic or renal failure can cause hair loss also. If you notice your hair falling out with no explanation, you need to see your doctor right away for testing.

  4. Stress. Severe stress either emotional or physical can cause female thinning hair.

  5. Infections. Any local viral, fungal or protozoan infection can cause hair loss.

If you start to notice more and more hair in your brush or in the sink then you need to pay attention to what is going on in your life. Have you been through a traumatic life event recently? Have you been ill or had surgery? If you answered no to these questions then it is time to look for the cause of the hair loss.

Make an appointment with your doctor and ask him for a full physical and blood workup. Explain to him that you are noticing hair loss, and you want to make sure there is nothing physically wrong with you. Female thinning hair can be the indicator that you need to find an underlying disease or condition.