Causes and Treatments for Alopecia Areata in Women

Alopecia Areata

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder causing hair loss on the scalp and different parts of your body where hair resides. In the condition of alopecia areata, the hair falls out in round patches. You do not hear statements about women with alopecia as much as you hear talks about men with the condition. Hair loss after pregnancy or postpartum alopecia is quite common. Postpartum alopecia is the shedding of hair after giving birth due to changes in hormone levels. Most women will return to their usual hair growth cycle between 6 and 12 months after birth.

Many women do not notice they are losing their hair until the hair begins to leave their scalp. The hair loss can be permanent or it can be something that is temporary. If alopecia is temporary the hair will normally begin to fall out and then seamlessly begin growing on its own again.

What Causes Alopecia in Women

There are three main reasons primarily why women with alopecia even come into occurrence. The first one is they have a small case of the alopecia areata which is classified as losing your hair in a patch. Normally alopecia areata will look as if it is circular. Many women will also begin to lose their hair during menopause. Hormones are already raging at this state of time in a woman’s life, and frankly her body is going a million miles a minute so a little hair loss can be expected.

However the most common cause of women with alopecia has been deemed to be oversensitivity to the testosterone hormone. When women have too much of this hormone circulating through their body they are opt to develop traits that men have such as baldness and in some circumstances beard as well as mustaches. It is easy to find out what levels the hormone is at within your own body by visiting your doctor and perusing through women who are a part of your immediate family. Normally if a few of the women who are in your family are dealing with aloipecia, there is a chance that someday you will be to.

Treatments for Alopecia Areata in Women

As far as treatment options go for women with alopecia there are a few different avenues that you can take. The first is to find a doctor that may be able to prescribe some medications for you to take to see if that will help you in female pattern baldness treatment. Minoxidil has been a common drug that doctor’s have been avidly been prescribing women to try to fight this onset case of female pattern baldness. Results from this treatments for alopecia will vary from person to person.

Women with alopecia are also opting to get corticosteroids injected into the spot where hair has ceased to grow. The steroids are supposed to wake up the dormant hair and cause it to begin its normal cycle of growth. If all alopecia treatment options fails you can always try different hair styles and things of that nature that will be able to cover the bald patches. Many women would never dream of trying this and simply living with the condition of alopecia areata, but in some cases you may not have a definite choice.

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