Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
Women lose their hair as often as men do. They just
don't lose as much. All women lose hair when they have a
sudden loss of estrogen after stopping birth control pills, after
giving birth and after entering the menopause. They also lose
hair after various illness, after suffering a high fever, and after
losing weight rapidly. These factors rarely cause permanent hair
loss; hair growth usually returns to normal within nine months.
Hair grows for three years, rests for three months and then starts
to grow again. You cannot reverse hair loss until most hairs have
gone from resting to active growing and that takes about nine months.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common curable
causes of male pattern baldness in women.
Don’t believe the ads that tell you baldness is caused by
blocked pores and that you can cure baldness by applying a special
shampoo that opens the pores so that hair can break through the skin
and reach the surface. Bald men have almost the same number of
hairs on their heads as those who have full heads of hair. However,
the hair of bald men is so thin, light and short that you can see it
only when you look very closely. Blocked pores do not cause baldness
and unblocking pores will not cause hair to grow.
March 25, 2006