Approximately 20% of women will experience hair loss that results in hair thinning over time. Female hair loss often takes place due to illness, aging, or subtle changes in blood chemistry after menopause. Men with hair loss tend to lose their hair in patches or in a pattern.
Women with thinning hair sometimes use a wig or hair extensions. Some opt for a topical solution while others, through their primary care doctor, take a prescription medicine. Many of these solutions can be effective at preventing further hair loss or helping with overall appearance. When it comes to getting back to normal, hair replacement surgery can be a good choice. However, it's important to be realistic about expectations: women cannot regain the pre-hair loss coverage but surgery can camouflage the thin areas and provide additional fullness.
While hair replacement surgery can be a good option for some women, it's not a good option for others—especially if they have the most common form of female hair loss: diffuse hair loss, which is an overall thinning. As a result, donor areas are usually unstable on a woman's scalp. So the hair transplant specialist will first need to complete a careful analysis of the donor areas. Only a small percentage of women (2% to 5%) are good candidates for hair transplant surgery.
These include:
- Women with mechanical or traction alopecia.
- Women who have elected to have cosmetic or plastic surgery and want to cover hair loss around the incisions.
- Women whose baldness is similar to male pattern baldness.
- Women who have experienced severe trauma on the scalp.
- Women with alopecia marginalis.
When you're interested in hair replacement options, schedule a complimentary scalp analysis at Mane Image to get started.
