The distress of living with female hair loss

Male hair loss can be an upsetting thing to experience as given the choice; very few (if any) would choose to lose any hair from their head. They can no longer style their hair as they used to, as well as feeling undesirable to the opposite of sex and may receive light-hearted jibes from friends about their hair loss – which over time can affect confidence and self-esteem.

However, hair loss is not something experienced solely by men and for many women who suffer with this problem, the stress and emotional aspects involved with this can be much, much worse.  A 1992 study featured in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology contrasted psychological impact of hair loss on both sexes and found that women had a more issues about body image and were less able to accept the fact they had lost some hair.

We live in an age where media places far too much focus on what they deem as ‘beauty’ and there is an ever-growing obsession with celebrity culture, with more and more figures in the public eye resorting to whatever expensive treatment possible to retain a youthful appearance.

Hair loss can have a devastating impact on a woman’s confidence and it can be made worse by the fact some GPs are still failing to recognise female hair loss as a genuine medical problem, ignoring the huge distress endured by the majority of those who are affected, “because you are never going to die from it”, says Iain Sallis, a consultant Trichologist at a top hair clinic.

Elaine Nixon is just one of an estimated 8 million women in the UK alone who have some degree of hair loss. Elaine had such an impressive head of hair during her teenage years that she fashioned different styles for a hairdresser’s. However, when Elaine began to lose her locks by the time she was just 24 years of age, this prompted one particularly unforgettable and hurtful comment from a stranger at a bar who said: “You’re going a bit bald there aren’t you, love?”

“After that I just stopped going out” says Elaine, now 39. “You notice people looking at your hairline, not just in your eyes. It makes you so self-conscious. My confidence was stripped. I saw my GP at the time, but he was useless. I also went to see a cosmetic surgeon. But when I rang back after the initial appointment, the receptionist said ‘Oh yes, the consultant’s said there’s nothing we can do’. I was distraught. My real fear was I’d end up with a wig.”

Elaine’s hair loss was eventually pinpointed to a male hormone treatment she had been prescribed for a congenital deformity of her fallopian tubes, however there are a number of different causes for hair loss, and understanding the varying types of hair loss is important. Elaine sought help from a hair transplant expert for her hair loss, but for the majority of people this option is simple not viable. Operations cost thousands of pounds at a time, and more than one is usually required.
The main types of hair loss are:

. Telogen effluvium: General shedding/thinning of the hair that is normally only a temporary occurrence. It can develop rapidly, usually about 1 to 3 months following major ‘shock’ placed on the body such as stress, childbirth, sudden weight loss, illness, operation, or reaction to a medication. Regular hair growth and thickness is seen after a few months however persistent shedding may be caused by an iron deficiency or underactive thyroid gland.

. Androgenic alopecia: The most common type of hair loss in both men and women, striking in varying severity. The reason for the occurrence of thinning hair is connected to hormones named ‘androgens’ and in particularly; dihydrotestosterone (DHT). This powerful hormone stimulates facial and bodily hair growth but has adverse effects on hair located on the head. It is believed that DHT initiates a process by which hair follicles begin to deteriorate over time and eventually stop producing hair entirely. Women usually experience a thinning of hair from the top of the head and it can get more noticeable after the menopause.

. Alopecia areata: Thought to be an autoimmune disease, it primarily affects teenagers and young adults resulting in round, patchy hair loss areas that may merge into one over time. The hair follicles are not permanently damaged, and in most instances the person will see hair growing back after several months. In a few cases, hair loss may be permanent but treatments to stimulate hair growth sometimes work.

Female hair loss may be helped through a number of different treatments. One of these is Minoxidil, dispensed by Medical Specialists as Regaine treatment for women (containing 2% Minoxidil). Speaking after British cyclist Joanna Rowsell’s Gold during the London Olympics, David Bailey, a leading UK Trichologist said, “2% Minoxidil is likely to give a cosmetically acceptable regrowth in those with patchy alopecia areata, but, using 5% Minoxidil in clinical trials gave an 81% response (1). It would appear that an occlusion of the treated area appears to be necessary to achieve and maintain maximum results.”

Medical Specialists offer a huge range of treatments at low prices for both male and female hair loss, so do not delay and head to the Women’s Health or Men’s Health areas of the website to see which treatment option is most suitable for you.

(1)     Fiedler-Weiss VC. (1987) “Topical minoxidil solution (1% and 5%) in the treatment of alopecia areata..” J Am Acad Dermatol. 16(3 Pt 2):745-8.

Lumigan eye drops could be used to combat hair loss

In the UK there are millions of men and women who are affected by hair loss. Although Male-pattern baldness is more common than female-pattern baldness, (affecting around half of all men at some point in their life), it can be a deeply stressing condition for both sexes and can often severely damage confidence and even impact on one’s social life.

However, there are numerous treatment options available to these millions of people in the form of Propecia and Regaine for males, and Dianette, Florisene  and Regaine for females. Today though, there is more hope for men and women around the UK who are losing their hair, after new research found that a side effect of the active ingredient in the eye drops ‘Lumigan’ may be utilised to create hair growth on the scalp.

Lumigan contains an active ingredient called ‘bimatoprost’, a type of medicine that is known as a prostaglandin analogue. Lumigan is usually prescribed for patients with ocular hypertension or open-angle glaucoma where there is increased pressure inside the eye. The bimatoprost works by decreasing the pressure inside the eye by increasing the drainage of fluid from the eye into the blood stream. If the pressure is not reduced then there is a great risk of damage to the optic nerve and then impaired vision.

One peculiar side effect though of the eye drops is the fact it can stimulate the growth of eyelashes, and now preliminary trials have already begun to see if bimatoprost can reverse the onset of male and female pattern baldness.

Lead scientist Professor Valerie Randall, from the University of Bradford, is a consultant to Allergan Inc which manufactures Lumigan. She says: “Bimatoprost is known to stimulate eyelash growth and is already used clinically for this purpose. We wanted to see whether it would have the same effect on scalp hair, as the two types of follicle are very different. Our findings show that bimatoprost does stimulate growth in human scalp hair follicles and therefore could offer a new approach for treating hair loss disorders.”

Androgenic alopecia is the most common type of hair loss in both men and women, and can strike in varying severity. The culprit for the occurrence of thinning hair is connected to hormones named ‘androgens’ and in particularly; dihydrotestosterone (DHT). This powerful hormone stimulates facial and bodily hair growth but has adverse effects on hair located on the head. It is believed that DHT initiates a process by which hair follicles begin to deteriorate over time and eventually stop producing hair entirely.

The promising aspect of the latest research is that it has been discovered that bimatoprost works on a quite different receptor that is unrelated to androgens. Prof Randall continued: “Even if the androgen receptor is telling the hair follicle to do negative things, the drug is telling it to do positive things.”
Bimatoprost has been applied to the living scalp tissue provided from donors undergoing cosmetic surgery. In merely a nine-day period, it was found that follicles that had been treated with bimatoprost grew a third more hair than untreated samples.

In addition, researchers discovered that follicles in a person’s scalp contain the same kind of receptors that respond to bimatoprost that are also in eyelash follicles. Prof Randall explained what this could mean for those who are losing their hair, saying: “This means that so long as the drug can be applied in such a way that it can reach the follicle, it should stimulate hair growth in patients.”

All that awaits now is the result of six-month long Phase II clinical trials, which are currently underway in the U.S. and Germany. The trials comprise of 220 men with male-pattern baldness and 172 women with female pattern baldness.  Comparisons will now be analysed, with some patients being administered a solution of bimatoprost on the scalp, some patients will be given an ineffective placebo, whereas others will be using the highly effective Minoxidil, the active ingredient contained in Regaine Foam and Regaine Lotion.