Over the years we have seen an increasing number of young women coming through our doors with thinning hair and hair loss. These are young ladies who previously had thick hair and never thought they would ever experience the onset of female pattern hair loss. Many other hair loss professionals have also reported a rapid increase in the number of younger women with hair loss concerns.
It has been our suspicion for many years, and was recently confirmed by an article in the Sydney Morning Herald that the contraceptive pill may be responsible for this premature thinning of women's hair. Newer contraceptive pills such as Yasmin and Diane 35 ED can promote hair growth, older pills such as Loette and Levlen were triggering a genetic predisposition for hair thinning in women as young as their mid-teens. International Association of Trichologists director David Salinger said “the progesterone in some pills can have a male hormonal effect on the hair……….If a female has a genetic tendency and she then takes something which has male hormonal effects, that can trigger the thinning. I'm seeing many, many women in their 20s and 30s getting this type of hair loss.'' This problem is commonly acknowledged in medical books, but it is believed in the professional hair loss community that doctors did not address or highlight these concerns when prescribing the pill as it could be seen as favouring certain pharmaceutical companies. Unfortunately, young women are now reaping the devastating effects hair loss due to poor communication of this critical information. However, the problem is under-reported due to a lack of knowledge about genetic hair thinning and because the hair loss often needs to be severe before people take notice.
Young women should check with their doctors that they are taking some of the new forms of the pill that are less likely to cause side effects such as hair loss. Other Causes of hair loss. Other prevalent causes of early onset hair loss in women include acute stress, iron deficiency, vitamin D deficiency and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, all of which have become more prevalent as lifestyles have changed. Stress can also be a major contributor, usually of Telogen Effluvium or diffuse hair loss rather than female pattern thinning. Many more triggers are still unknown.
