subject: Treating Female Pattern Baldness [print this page] There have been many notable achievements made by medical science over the last several years. Sadly, there is one area that has been ignored for the longest time. It is significant to note that 60% of recorded hair loss problems are suffered by women patients but, even with such a number, there is nothing much done to find effective hair restoration for women solutions. It has been expected that a woman could at best cover up her condition by purchasing a wig.
If you are searching for an available female hair restoration solution, there is actually hope nowadays. Even if Finasteride, which is a drug for males, is not allowed to be used by women, there is a drug that women can buy over the counter and use. The drug Finasteride has serious side effects in male fetuses where it can cause birth defects. Since women are capable of getting pregnant, they are not permitted to even touch the tablet because the medication can be absorbed through the pores of the skin.
Women's hair restoration saw a brighter future when another medicated drug only allowed for men was approved to be used by women. Originally, the drug, Minoxidil, targeted patients with high blood pressure problems but, during its clinical trials the results showed that it is also effective for the treatment of male pattern baldness. Since most of cases of men and women with hair loss problems have the same cause, it was thought that the drug could be used by women too and trials were set up.
The results of the clinical trial of Minoxidil were great. This did not come as a surprise though because women had been using their husband's own Minoxidil solution for many years. Since there were no available female hair restoration products, this was their only way to solve their hair loss problem. Because the FDA of US has already given its approval that Minoxidil can be used by women, the product has now a specific formula dedicated for them.
You should take note, however, that this drug can not stop hair loss in women but rather just slows down significantly the process of hair loss and it can help some of your hairs to be more healthy and re-grow faster. A man or a woman who has inherited the genetic condition Androgenic Alopecia (pattern baldness) actually has his or her hair follicles become the target of attack by a hormone called DHT.
This hormone causes men's and women's hair loss by attacking the follicles and not allowing them to receive the needed blood supply to grow keratin. Keratin is the actual material that hair shafts are constructed of. The DHT bonds to receptors on the hair follicles and inhibits the transfer of the needed nutrients from the person's blood. This slowly causes the hair growth to slow down and eventually stop.
This medicated female hair loss product works by helping the remaining hair follicles to rejuvenate because they are not yet completely shut down by DHT. The hormone needs months to make the roots totally useless. If you are able to treat as early as possible, you can actually counter the damage caused by DHT and your hair follicles can continue to grow because they can still receive the nutrients needed.
If you wait too long though the hair follicle will become encased in fibrotic material and at that point the only option is hair transplants for women. Hair transplanting is an example of another treatment that has been available for men for years but is just now being applied to females. The problem is, women tend to have thinning hair over their entire scalp instead of patches of baldness like men do. This means there is no donor area on a woman's head to use for grafts. Instead, a new procedure called direct hair implants can be used to transplant body hairs to the scalp.
This latest hair loss treatment for women is quite expensive relative to other treatments and it can't produce great results to cover a receding hair line. The body hairs can work great as fillers though. Because of this, it would be better for you to save what hair you still have instead of planning on replacing it. It is true that prevention is always better than a cure.
