Female Pattern Hairloss Causes

Non-genetic Hairloss Causes
There are two main categories of non-genetic hairloss - anagen effluvium and telogen effluvium. Anagen effluvium usually involves chemotherapy or medications known to cause hairloss.   Telogen effluvium is the most common and involves an increase in hair follicles which enter the resting stage.  Telogen effluvium is most commonly caused by:

• Physical stress: surgery, illness, anemia, rapid weight change.
• Emotional stress: mental illness, death of a family member.
• Thyroid abnormalities.
• Medications: High does of Vitamin A -- Blood pressure medications -- Gout medications.
• Hormonal causes: pregnancy, birth control pills, menopause.
• When the above causes of telogen effluvium are reversed or altered you should see the return of normal hair growth.

Diet Considerations
Women appear to be more subject to hairloss due to dietary reasons than men. Low iron levels are the most common dietary reason women experience hairloss, although other vitamins and minerals may be involved.  Excessive Vitamin A intake can lead to hairloss.  Some have reported that zinc can interfere with iron absorption as well.

Physical And Emotional Stress
Both emotional stress as well as physical stress (accidents, surgery, physical illness, etc) can cause hairloss.  The hairloss usually occurs 3 months after the event that caused it and may take 3 months after the event ends to resume.

Hormonal Consideration
Hairloss frequently occurs when the body's hormonal levels are noticable altered. This can occur due to pregnancy, going on or off birth control pills, or during menopause.   This type of hairloss is usually temporary.

Genetic Hairloss

Female pattern loss is a genetic predisposition to hairloss caused by an abnormal reaction to normal hormone levels or a normal reaction to abnormally elevated hormonal levels.  Pattern loss is the most common form of hairloss in both men and women and usually can only be treated by medication.

Alopecia Areata is another common form of genetic hairloss.   Alopecia areata causes patchy hairloss in spots all over the scalp.  Alopecia Areata may eventually lead to Alopecia Totalis and Universalis, which cause total hairloss on the head and body respectively.  Alopecia Areata is often triggered by stressful events.  It may reverse itself on its own or through the use of some medications.  Stress management is recommended to prevent future occurances.

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