Women and Hair Loss: The Causes
Today more women than ever are experiencing hair loss — and the causes may be quite different that what causes balding in men.
Lady Godiva is Breck Girl, Farah Fawcett, Jennifer Aniston, there is no doubt that at least the women’s hair is often a turning point in personal style. This is one of the reasons why women lose in a panic, the idea, let your hair drip on each shampoo.
Those fears are not unfounded, because every year more women are forced to reckon with the possibility of serious hair loss. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, is a growing problem that affects approximately 30 million women in the United States – for certain types of losses in the past centuries and looks more and more.
“I saw a woman at the age of 15 or 16 develop hair loss problems – that is not common, but not so rare,” says Ted Daly, MD, a dermatologist Nassau University Medical Center, Long Iceland, specializing in the treatment of female hair loss .
But what makes women lose their hair? To understand this, it is important to know a little ‘how to grow hair.
Turn on the growth
Experts say that our hair normally grows at a rate of about one centimeter per month – with each hair growth phase of 2-6 years. Then the hair is based “is the time they heard – and follicles, where they soon develop a new section. And the cycle continues, usually also our later years.
Since, however – who are genetic predisposition for hair loss – one group of hormones called androgens interfere with this natural process. According to dermatologist Michael Reed, MD, is the androgen testosterone and androsteinedione dihydrotestosterone (DHT) – all of which are produced in large quantities from the bodies of men and women live in small quantities.
For those who are genetically susceptible, when testosterone into contact with enzymes residing in hair cells, the most effective androgen DHT, which will be bound to receptors deep in the follicle.
“Over time, the excessive accumulation of DHT] causes follicles [to a contraction, which initiate in turn affects the natural resting phase of hair growth," said Reed, a clinical professor of dermatology, New York University Medical Center and an expert in hair loss in women. Some follicles will die, while others are unable to produce or maintain a healthy hair growth. As a result, said Reed, the hair loss - and the so-called androgenetica alopecia is a doctor.
For decades, doctors thought that androgenetica hair loss is a major cause of hair loss in men and women. Today we know that this is not true - at least for women .