Female pattern hair loss

Medical terms

Androgenetic alopecia, female pattern hairloss

Common terms

Female pattern hair loss

Overview

Women with this trait develop thinning hair but do not usually become completely bald.

Symptoms and signs

A process of miniaturisation occurs in women to cause female pattern hair loss. That is, each time the hair follicle goes through the hair cycle it becomes smaller and smaller and thus produces a smaller hair shaft. Eventually the hair shaft is so small that it does not protrude above the level of the skin in the scalp.

Women begin to lose their hair by going diffusely thin on the vertex (the top of the scalp). Sometimes temporal recession is also seen (loss of hair at the corners of the frontal hair line).

There are a few hair conditions that can result in generalised thinning of hair on the top of the scalp. It is therefore very important that the correct diagnosis is made before embarking on treatment for hair loss in women.

Treatment

There is now good treatment for female pattern hair loss which is aimed at reversing the process and promoting regrowth. In peer reviewed studies, 88% of women with this form of hair loss attained a positive outcome with treatment.