Alopecia Hair Loss - A Devastating Loss to Women

Alopecia hair loss can be realized by both men and women and is also known as male or female pattern baldness. It has been a misunderstood disease up until a few years ago and it is especially damaging to a woman who, in this society, is expected to have long flowing beautiful hair. It is devastating to women who have the disease mostly because baldness in men is accepted but in women there must be something wrong in order to loose their hair.

The male testosterone hormone is the one that was thought to be the cause of baldness. Since women also have a small amount of testosterone doctors thought that is what the cause of female pattern baldness was. They recently found that this is not true. DHT is a substance that is found in the oil glands of hair follicles and is made from converted testosterone. DHT tends to shrink follicles and prevents hair from growing.

Women bald differently than men as their baldness occurs all over the head. It is centralized in men near the tip of the head and at the line where the hair starts to grow. Women have it different. When a woman has alopecia you can actually see scalp through the hair all over the head. Women experience loss above the bangs in the front and right down the part. There are some woman who bald at the rear of the head.

Some conditions that can start alopecia in women are ovarian cysts, pregnancy or the time right after, use of birth control, and menopause. Women who have the condition of polycystic ovarian syndrome can experience alopecia too. If your life is so stressful it causes physical problems it can also cause alopecia. This condition is caused by heredity but contrary to popular belief it does not just have to do with the mother's side of the family.

There are many women that have problems with hair loss. Nearly 20 million women have a form of alopecia and about 40 percent are below the age of 40. Having alopecia can cause some mental issues like low self-esteem and depression. Recently it was discovered that women have a few more treatments that they can take advantage of to stop hair loss. In men hair loss is almost always permanent but in women it is not.

Finding a doctor to treat alopecia is the number one thing to do. Usually gynecologists and family doctors can do little for this disease. Go to a dermatologist as they are the best doctor equipped to take care of this disease. Go to the American Academy of Dermatology website to find a doctor well versed in alopecia where you live. It is unfortunate that many health insurance do not allow payment for alopecia. The doctor will ask you when the problem started and how it started. They will ask what other conditions you have such as thyroid disease or diabetes and they will ask all medications you take. They will want to know when you were last pregnant, went through a hysterectomy, or the year you experienced menopause.

Blood tests will be taken to find out the degree of the problem. This is how alopecia is diagnosed. Tests are done on many different things like thyroid, iron in the blood, blood count and hormones. With the results doctors will be able to decide what kind of treatment will work the best for you.

Minoxidil, used for both genders, has been available since the 1980's. Another product that works well for alopecia in women is Tricomin Therapy Spray. A shampoo that brings back circulation to the scalp thus helping more hair to grow is called Nizoral and it must be used three times a week. This has been proven to work when using other therapies as well. Antiandrogen may be prescribed and this is rubbed on the head. It also comes in pill form. Use either one with one of the above growth simulators and you may grow hair back you have lost.

You can find many support groups form women with alopecia both locally and on line. The people in the groups will help you cope with the frustration this disease can create. The only good thing about it is that you can grow hair back if you are a woman. With a doctor's help it will grow back even faster. Make sure you family understand the disease and the people you work with. They can be a great source of support as well.

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Diagnosis Of Alopecia Areata - What The Dermatologist Might Tell You

In medical terms there is no conclusive diagnostic test for alopecia areata. Scientists are not sure whether alopecia is a single disorder or a set of related but different disorders. A medical diagnosis usually proceeds by the doctor identifying a set of symptoms that constitute a specific disorder, for which there is (hopefully) are known and effective hair loss treatments. Unfortunately, alopecia does not fit this pattern, so doctors are faced with a very difficult task. There are a number of different causes of alopecia, and so while the main symptom - hair loss - is universal, different causes may require different treatments.

Your dermatologist will attempt to work out whether you have alopecia by eliminating other possibilities and by examining the lesion. Alopecia appears at different rates for different people, and has a greater or lesser effect - i.e. it might only be a small patch on the scalp, or it might cover the whole body. A typical case (though bearing in mind that nothing is 'typical' - which is why alopecia is so difficult to diagnose) might involve a bald patch appearing in a 24-hour period. This is usually (but not always) on the scalp. A dermatologist might try a hair pull test at the margins of the affected area. If your hair comes out easily, that indicates alopecia, and it is likely you will experience further hair loss.

Hair fiber taken from this point can be sent for analysis. Observing the hair under an electron microscope will show that the hair is unusual. The part of the hair furthest from the scalp (the older part) looks normal, but the shape becomes irregular nearer to the scalp. This includes deposits of keratin (the protein that makes up the hair), and also constrictions in the fiber of the hair. There are often cracks along the hair. The difference from a normal hair lies not in the amount of keratin present, but in the way it is assembled.

These hair fibers can have weak spots that lead to breakage. Sometimes the stump of the hair looks like an exclamation mark. This is very distinctive in alopecia, and the dermatologist might look for this as one of the signs of alopecia - noting, of course, that such hair can appear in other conditions as well!

A further sign of alopecia is problems with fingernails. It is difficult to work out how many people have this problem, and it does not always occur at the same time as the onset of alopecia, but somewhere between 10 per cent and 30 per cent of people with alopecia have such a problem - it depends which reports you read! Nails may become pitted, their growth may be affected, or they may be very soft.

Another diagnostic technique used by dermatologists involves carrying out a skin biopsy. This involves taking a small piece of skin (about 4 mm in diameter) and examining it under the microscope. The dermatologist can then see whether there is focal inflammation of the hair follicles, which is one of the clearest signs of alopecia.

There is a possibility that this could be done using blood samples instead, but as yet there is no accepted technique for doing so.

Finding the best hair loss treatment [http://www.hairlosstreatmentsguide.org] starts with understanding the main hair loss causes [http://www.hairlosstreatmentsguide.org/alopecia-areata-and-hair-loss-causes/] and why it has affected you. From there you will be in a far better position to start regrowing your hair again.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Diagnosis-Of-Alopecia-Areata---What-The-Dermatologist-Might-Tell-You&id=6406687] Diagnosis Of Alopecia Areata - What The Dermatologist Might Tell You