Female Hair Loss Treatments

Hair loss just happens to men, right? Wrong. It is estimated that around 40% of women are suffering with thinning hair and balding scalps. While it may be true that most hair loss treatments are marketed to men, women are seeking hair loss treatment as well. Often men and women will lose scalp hair differently; while men lose hair in a particular pattern, women have a diffuse thinning over the entire head. This thinning makes female hair loss treatments a bit more difficult.

 

One approach is to female hair loss treatment is to use a topical solution placed in the scalp, such as minoxidil. This is of only limited success and seems to work for only some patients. While it treats the scalp over a broad region, it is not always effective a female hair loss treatment (or for men, actually).

 

Since women lose hair diffusely, female hair transplantation is different than it is in men. In women, the grafts are a bit larger and placed strategically over the whole scalp. Great care has to be taken to avoid injuring the existing hair. The other technical challenge of this female hair loss treatment is that finding suitable donor hair may be difficult. In men, hair on the sides and lower back of the head defy hair loss throughout life thus these areas are great places to harvest donor hair. This is somewhat true for women, but less so. These areas are used for female hair transplant, but the samples are not ideal.

 

 

It isn’t just the scalp hair that thins as a woman ages. The eyebrows and eyelashes can also start to fall out, leaving the individual with a feeling of incompleteness. Both of these areas can be surgically enhanced though, using a method of hair transplant very similar to the one mentioned above. Again, donor hair is harvested from the back or side of the scalp and is transplanted into the skin of the eyebrow or the eyelid. In these cases the hairs are carefully shaped and tapered before being transplanted so that they maintain a natural look. The hair grafts are permanent and as a result the hairs rarely fall out – the result of which is that the areas have to be trimmed and shaped regularly to avoid overgrowth.     

 

Each individual case of female hair loss treatment is unique and so costs tend to vary considerably. Hair transplants can cost anywhere from $5000 up to $20,000+ depending on the extent of hair loss. Scalp removal surgery tends to be much cheaper and ranges from $1500-$3000. Eyebrows and eyelashes are considerably more expensive because of the delicate nature of the surgery and the fact that fewer plastic surgeons perform these procedures. This means you can still pay upwards of $6000 for eyelash transplants and just a little bit less for eyebrows.

 

All of these treatments are considered cosmetic, even if they are a consequence of a systemic disease (cancer) or trauma (burn). The cost of these female hair loss treatments may not be covered by standard health insurance as a result. Check with your provider about coverage and cost of female hair loss treatments prior to starting treatment.