The chief complaint of women with female pattern hair loss is the thin see-through frontal hairline. Hair loss in women is socially unacceptable. Hair loss in men is upsetting, but thin see through hair or shaved scalps are socially acceptable. For example, Sean Connery was voted People’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” even with his lack of hair. You won’t find women with thin, see through hairlines on People magazine’s cover, there are no “Sean Connery’s”.
A complete medical history and physical exam is vital for all women presenting with hair loss. There are a variety of causes of hair loss including: female pattern hair loss, shock loss or telogen effluvium, medication induced hair loss, hair loss from poor diet, underlying medical conditions, poor hair care, and primary skin diseases.
Minoxidil is the only FDA approved medication to stabilize and regrow hair for female pattern hair loss. The key to success understanding it must be used for at least 8-12 months before it begins to work. The majority of women that use medication will benefit from it.
Hair transplantation offers a safe, highly effective treatment option to add density to a thinning see through frontal hairline. The cosmetic standard is for the procedure to add hair in a consistently natural manner. A hair transplant takes advantage of the hairs in the back of the scalp the are NOT affected by female pattern hair loss. Thousands of hair follicles are removed under local anesthesia from the back of the scalp and are carefully placed as 1-3 hair follicular groupings between thinning hair follicles in the frontal hailine and half of the scalp. The transplant takes six to twelve months to fully grow in and, once grown, it should grow long term.
Hair transplantation is a safe, consistently effective treatment option to restore a natural frame of hair around the face.
