Dis-tressed

Thinning or patchy hair affects one woman in four, and is traumatic for many.

The adjective "bald" naturally seems to modify the noun "man." But it's not just men who suffer the distress of the disappearing tress.

About one in four women experiences thinning hair with age, a condition known as female-pattern balding and the most common culprit behind female hair loss. The hair loss, which is hereditary, may be barely detectable. Or it can send women wig-shopping or searching for other alternatives.

"We're all losing our hair, every man, every woman. That's just the way it is with hair," says Dr. C. William Hanke, a dermatologist in private practice in Carmel and president-elect of the American Academy of Dermatology. "But if you're a woman, you're expected to have hair, so when a woman starts to lose her hair, she's in seeing the doctor."

Hereditary hair loss occurs differently for women than for men. Men lose hair in the front and sometimes keep it on the back and side; women maintain frontal hair and experience thin or bald patches all over their head.

Nor is it just age that lies behind women's hair loss. A number of other conditions, from stress to nutritional deficits to pregnancy to thyroid disease can also lead women to -- if not go bald completely -- lose the head of hair they once had.

For most women, the first stop when they see hair thinning is likely to be the dermatologist's office for evaluation and, if possible, treatment.

"The important thing with treatment is to get it as early as you can," says Dr. Ryan Brashear, a dermatologist with Dermatology Incorporated in Downtown Indianapolis. "The more advanced the problem is, the longer it's been going on, the tougher it is to fix."

But the bad news for women is that the remedies for hair loss may be even less effective than they are for men. Rogaine, the signature anti-balding drug for men, tends not to work as well in women, doctors agree. In about one in 15 women, Rogaine can lead to hair growth on the cheeks.

The company that makes Propecia, another common drug for men, says it is not for use by women, although some doctors do prescribe it for those beyond child-bearing age.
"In women, I don't think we have a great understanding completely of what's going on chemically, and we certainly haven't found a medication like we have in men that they can take to reverse hair loss," says Dr. Mark Hamilton of Hamilton Facial Plastic Surgery on the Southside.

So, many women find themselves improvising to make their hair look fuller. Linda Young, of the Southside, noticed her hair thinning many years ago after a hysterectomy at age 30. For many years, Young added real-hair weaves to her honey-brown locks to hide the thinning.

About a year ago, she turned to Transitions of Indiana, which offers non-surgical hair restoration, for hair that she says looks so natural no one realizes it's not her own. Young says she understands why so many women are reluctant to try to improve their hair.

"The number one problem with most people that have a hair problem is getting over a fear of change," she says. "It's that fear that this won't look right; it will look phony."

Variety of problems

For many black women, the quest for perfect hair leads to permanent problems. Follicular degeneration syndrome, one of the causes of hair loss for black women, carries the nickname "hot comb" alopecia, referring to the styling instrument that may be responsible for it.

Other hair habits also can contribute to black women's thinning hair, says Barry Fletcher, author of "Why Are Black Women Losing Their Hair?" (Unity Publishing, $49) and a Maryland hair stylist with a line of hair-care products bearing his name. Many no-lye relaxer products, marketed as safer than the alternatives, are actually more toxic to hair, he says.

Hair additions may also inadvertently contribute, as the new hair may not be sufficiently sanitary, causing a scalp irritation. Even braids that have been plaited too tight or left in too long can lead to balding, Fletcher says.
"The whole concept of beauty culture should help the consumers keep the hair on their head for the rest of their life and keep their hair healthy, but because of our vanity . . . people are putting more pressure on their hair and asking a lot of their hair," Fletcher says

Face greater risks

"Black women have a lot more services rendered than white women, and therefore are subjected to more damage."

If all else fails, women with any type of hair may resort to hair transplants or nonsurgical treatments.

With hair transplants, however, women again are at a disadvantage, experts say. Unlike men, who lose their hair from the front, women can lose their hair from any spot of the head. So the hair transplant theory of moving hair from a lush area to a more arid one may not work.

"Women, they're losing hair all over, so we're playing a game of trying to take hair from areas where they may lose hair," Hamilton says. "Hair transplantation for women is not as ideal as it is for men."

Depending on what areas are affected and how much hair is involved, a hair transplant for a woman can wind up costing anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000, Hamilton adds.

Other available treatments include laser hair therapy, an FDA-approved process to increase blood flow to the scalp and stimulate hair growth.

Best if done early

These treatments can help slow down hair loss for women in the early stages of the process, says Loren Weeks, director of Transitions of Indiana, on the Northwestside, which offers the procedure.

Women with more extensive hair loss, however, may benefit from nonsurgical hair restoration techniques. Transitions' staff matches the woman's natural hair as closely as possible with other natural human hair. Then that new hair is bonded to the scalp, strand by strand.

"Basically, we're adding an extra layer of skin, which will hold hair that matches the woman's natural hair perfectly," says Weeks, adding that this procedure typically costs about $1,500 to $3,000. "Our key with the nonsurgical technique is using as much of a woman's existing hair as we can."

The painless technique worked wonders, says Young, who says she's able to do anything she wants -- swim, dive, boat, ride in a convertible with the top down -- with no ill effects to her lustrous head of hair. Best of all, no one (including herself) can tell that not all her hair is her own.

"It just mixes and blends in with your hair. . . . It's just so amazing. If you were to see me or know me, you would never know," she says.

Still, Weeks acknowledges, many women see few easy answers to balding:
"Hair loss is a very tough battle to fight."

News Source: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060829/LIVING01/608290309/1083