Female Hair Loss Treatment
More Than Remedies: Female Hair Loss Treatment
Female hair loss can be caused by any number of conditions. Some female hair loss cases are due to heredity, while others have to do with illnesses, hormones, diet, and stress.
Hormonal changes are the cause of the majority of female hair loss cases. Many women will begin to lose hair when they experience a change in their estrogen levels.
These changes can include pregnancy, discontinuing birth control pills, miscarriage, and taking or stopping hormone replacement therapy.
These changes affect DHT and estrogen levels, which affects the hair growth and loss process. Post childbirth is the time where many women will lose their hair.
Pregnant women have a high level of progesterone and a decreased level of estrogen. This causes their hair to move into the resting stage.
Once the child is born, the new hair begins to grow, causing the “resting” hair follicles to shed. Most commonly, hair loss after pregnancy occurs between three and six months after pregnancy.
While there is no real cure for this hair loss, it is a temporary situation. It is important to realize that when hair is lost after pregnancy, the new hair is already growing in while old hair is falling out. Therefore, the situation is usually temporary and will remedy itself.
Illnesses and physical conditions also play a role in female hair loss. Diseases such as anemia, hypothyroidism, anorexia, bulimia, thyroid disease, liver disease, hepatic failure, renal failure, and viral, fungal, or protozoan infections can all cause loss of hair in women. High fevers can also cause hair loss.
When the body temperature rises extensively, the hair growth cycle is altered, sometimes causing hair to shed. With these medical conditions, hair usually grows back once the illness or condition is brought under control. This condition is called Telegen Effluvium.
Another factor that can cause changes in hair growth and loss cycles in women is diet and nutrition. A women’s diet should have a strong amount of protein, essential fatty acids, and zinc.
Deficiencies of these elements can cause hair loss and thinning. Excess amounts of vitamin A and the prescription medicine Accutane, a vitamin A relative can also cause hair loss, in addition to the presence of certain elements such as amphetamines, antimitotics, anticholesterol medications, and anesthesia.
Emotional situations and elevated levels of stress can also result in hair loss. High levels of stress are documented to have a strong correlation to hair loss, particularly in females.
This type of hair loss is called Telogen Effluvium. Because our hair is one of the first parts of our body to respond to both physical and emotional stresses,
it is the first to be affected by stress, sometimes causing hair to shed. Most women who are affected by Telogen Effluvium are between the ages of 40 and 70, but it can certainly occur in women of all ages.
Telogen Effluvium usually remedies itself and normal hair growth begins when the root of the problem is corrected.
The treatment for female hair loss depends on the cause and condition of the specific case. If the hair loss experienced is known to be temporary,
most likely the solution will be to simply be patient and hair will grow back on its own. Treatments for permanent female hair loss include medications and follicular unit transplantation procedures.
To determine what is the best treatment for your particular hair loss case, contact Pistone Hair Restoration for a free consultation.
Fad Hair Loss Treatments Carry Great Health Risks
Fad Hair Loss Treatments Carry Great Health Risks
The Food and Drug Administration has given the nod of approval to minoxidil as being a bon fide hair loss treatment option.
Unfortunately, some hair loss sufferers are not content with this choice and instead of using this tried and true – and deemed safe – hair loss drug, they will venture out further.
Perhaps the minoxidil does not have the results for which they hoped or maybe the speed with which the substance was accomplishing its work was too slow for the taste of the consumer.
Whatever the case may be, before long such a consumer will find her- or him-self surfing the Internet in hopes of the latest and greatest breakthrough in hair growth technology; this then will inevitably lead to an exposure to some alleged surefire methods of curing hair loss.
Unfortunately many such claims are so cleverly worded that a dissection of the advertisement points to a product being little more than a dietary supplement or scalp cleanser that may have some effect on hair re-growth, but then again there are no guarantees.
Much like weight loss supplements, hair loss drugs and hair loss vitamins come and go in a faddish fashion and what is the hottest buzz on the ‘Net today is yesterday’s news within a few short weeks.
Alarmingly, fad hair loss treatments carry great health risks that consumers must realize will make the cure a lot worse than the actual malady of losing hair, which is by and large little more than a cosmetic nuisance.
In some cases the fads will do little more than lighten your wallet and add some odd items to your bathroom. There is the powdered seaweed scalp-treatment that is supposed
increase the blood flow to the scalp or the specially formulated hair loss shampoo with conditioner that is supposed to unclog follicles which have ceased to produce and instead encourage them to let hair once again grow.
Neither of these claims has been proven and while it is possible that you might have some limited success with such an approach, they are not the panacea they make out to be and you will most likely be the exception to the rule if indeed you find that your hair loss is reversed.
Consumers who will use the Internet to procure bona fide medications for off label use are entering an arena that is fraught with danger.
At issue are prostate cancer pills which are known to grow hair as a side effect, but which carry a host of other side effects.
When faced with cancer, these side effects are considered the lesser of two evils, yet when one is up against hair loss, most any side effect that may
result in a loss of life or serious risk to the cardiovascular system is too high to incur. In some cases the use of off label medications containing spironolactone has been shown to backfire.
Although it is an acne drug, it has become associated with hair loss. Yet depending on the dosage, it may actually not combat hair loss but cause it, as its use for hirsutism points out.
The same is true for shampoos and rubs made from saw palmetto extract.
