One in four women in Italy suffers from hair loss. That is alopecia. From a typically male problem, hair loss has become an increasingly feminine issue over the years. According to the latest statistics, in fact, over four million women suffer from it in Italy, about one in four.
The first symptoms to pay attention to concern a copious hair loss, mainly concentrated in the central area of the head or in the front, until their progressive thinning.
As for the triggers, however, they are much wider than one might think or have been mistakenly believed in the past. Stress, hereditary predisposition, excessive cosmetic treatments, menopause, dietary disorders and deficiencies, hormonal imbalances or changes, such as following pregnancy, are just some of the possible causes.
The excess of male hormones, on the other hand, long considered the true culprit of female baldness, seems to no longer be the main suspect. This is confirmed by a growing number of studies led by a report from the Androgen Excess (AE-PCOS) Society and the Association of Endocrinologists.
This is the opinion of Mauro Conti, scientific director of Hairclinic, a center specialized in multidisciplinary regenerative medicine applied to the treatment of baldness, who explains: “Women who suffer from hair loss problems generally have a completely normal rate of androgens. Rather, the real problem lies in the areas of the scalp that are hypersensitive to diidrotestosterone (DHT), a hormone derived from testosterone ”.
Produced in the female organism by the ovaries and secreted into the blood, through which it reaches the follicles, DHT tends to weaken, shrink and close them, thus preventing their growth.
In the scalp subject to baldness, an abnormal amount of a protein called Prostaglandin D2 was also found, which would inhibit the growth of the hair, counteracting the Prostaglandin F2 alpha which instead favors its development. The identification of an inhibitor capable of hindering PGD2 opens a new medical landscape in the treatment of alopecia, in women as in men.
But baldness, in addition to these two causes, is linked to the coexistence of several factors. In fact, Conti adds as “in addition to a genetic predisposition, autoimmune diseases may also play a crucial role, which mainly affect female subjects, such as hypo and hyperthyroidism, celiac disease, fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis “.
“Some hormone therapies such as the contraceptive pill can relieve the follicles and improve the problem -goes on- but they don’t completely solve it. Treatment depends on individual cases; our approach is not limited to analyzing the hair, as it normally happens, but is based on the execution of advanced genetic, hormonal and cell membrane analyzes. To date, three important interventions can be identified: one of inclusive regenerative medicine, that is, the use of the patient’s cells which, when injected, extinguish inflammation and bring greater oxygenation, promoting hair regrowth; a terapia nutraceutica targeted at what the individual patient actually lacks (not a standardized vial that is the same for everyone); finally, topical medications, as a gel to be applied to the scalp and based on anti-androgens, therefore hormones that restore a general balance in case of decompensation,”Concludes the scientific director of Hairclinic.