Healthy, full hair – especially for women, this is also a sign of attractiveness. All the worse if the hair falls out. In many cases, hormones or heredity are to blame. Although more men than women suffer from hair loss, affected women suffer much more. One reason is certainly the social acceptance of little or no hair in men as opposed to hair loss in women. However, not immediately every loss of some hair is hair loss. From a pathological hair loss, the so-called effluvium is only spoken when more than 100 hairs fall out daily.
Hair loss has many faces
In addition to a hereditary predisposition to hair loss, women lose their hair more often when they are pregnant or in menopause or during a break from the pill. The reason: estrogens increase hair growth, while androgens inhibit it. During such special hormonal periods, the production of the female gonads is reduced, and there is a relative predominance of male hormones. Therefore, it is understandable that just when a change in hormonal balance occurs, hair may fall out more. Other factors such as age or the season also play a major role.
Causes of hair loss in women
- Hereditary factors (constitutional female hair loss).
- Shift in hormonal balance after childbirth.
- Decreasing estrogen levels during menopause
- Dysfunction of the thyroid gland
- Severe infections, poisoning
- Metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus.
- Stress, deficiencies in the diet, deficiency symptoms due to diets.
- Medication, for example, against high blood lipid levels, blood pressure drugs (ACE inhibitors, beta blockers) and drugs for cancer treatment.
To effectively combat hair loss, the causes should be known. For diagnostic clarification, a visit to the dermatologist and – for women – the gynecologist is recommended. Hair loss due to stress, nutrient deficiencies, hormonal imbalances or medication is usually a temporary phenomenon that is reversible. Those who want to take action themselves should know that there are over-the-counter medicines for diffuse hair loss in pharmacies that supply the hair root with sulfur-containing amino acids and B vitamins.
Hair loss after pregnancy
After pregnancy or breastfeeding, hair loss – called postpartum effluvium – may occur. This is no cause for alarm because hair usually grows back after several weeks to months, even without therapy. What happens? During pregnancy, the estrogen level in the blood is very high. Therefore, most women initially observe beautiful, thick and shiny hair and smooth skin. However, with childbirth, estrogen levels drop sharply, resulting in the sudden transition of hair in the growth stage (anagen pahse) to the resting and falling out stage (telogen phase). These hairs then typically fall out 2-3 months later.
Hair loss during menopause
During and in menopause, quite a few women have a permanently increased hair loss. This phenomenon is called chronic telogen effluvium (CTE). Suspicion of CTE is substantiated by increased telogen hair rates over months or years. This can be detected with the help of a trichogram. The trichogram is a commonly used method to detect the extent of hair loss or the effect of hair therapy drugs. For this purpose, 50 to 100 hairs are plucked out with tweezers in order to be able to assess the hair roots under the microscope and assign them to the individual growth phases. A maximum of 20% telogen hairs would be normal. Another measurement method that is increasingly used by dermatologists is the so-called TrichoScan method, which does not require hair to be epilated.
What to do when hair loss occurs?
It is important to know that there are periods of increased hair turnover, which usually do not lead to permanent hair thinning in the sense of androgenetic alopecia. For special support, there are medicines available over the counter in pharmacies that provide the hair with all the important nutrients it needs for healthy hair growth. If the hair change lasts longer or if the hair suddenly goes out in larger quantities, an expert should be consulted.
Hair consultations
In the meantime, there are so-called hair consultation hours for those affected throughout Germany. In the hair consultation hour, doctors devote themselves intensively to the forms of hair loss and diseases of the scalp. Various methods are available for diagnosis and therapy.
