Dermnet Videos
Alopecia Videos
- Alopecia areata – Causes and Associated Conditions
- Alopecia Areata Information
- Alopecia Areata Treatment
- Course of Sudden Hair Loss Telogen Effluvium
- Evaluation and Treatment of Sudden Hairloss Telogen Effluvium
- Female Pattern Baldness and Hair Loss Causes
- Female Pattern Baldness and Hair Loss in Women
- Female Pattern Hair Loss Evaluation and Testing
- Female Pattern Hair Loss Treatment
- Hair loss and Alopecia Introduction
- Hair Loss Due To Hair Pulling – Trichotillomania
- Hair Loss Treatment and Male Pattern Baldness Medicine
- Loose Anagen Hair Syndrome
- Male Patern Baldness Causes and Hair Loss
- Male Pattern Baldness and Hair Loss Information
- Sudden Hair Loss Telogen Effluvium
- Traction Alopecia Hair Loss
- Traction Alopecia Hair Loss Treatment
- Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia
- Discoid Lupus Erythematosus – Clinical
- Discoid Lupus Erythematosus – Histology
- Discoid Lupus Erythematosus – Treatment
- Follicular Degeneration Syndrome
- Folliculitis Decalvans – Clinical
- Folliculitis Decalvans Treatment
- Hair Loss Alopecia With Scarring Information
- Lichen Planopilaris
- Lichen Planopilaris – Clinical Features
- Lichen Planopilaris Treatment
Video Topics
Female Pattern Baldness and Hair Loss Causes
In the past it was postulated that FPHL was simply the female counterpart of male androgenetic alopecia. Women with the condition were felt to have increased numbers of androgen receptors on hair follicles or possibly increased follicular sensitivity to low levels of circulating androgens. While this may be true, the lack of efficacy of finasteride (a 5 a reductase inhibitor) in treating FPHL in the one placebo-controlled, blinded study published to date, suggests that androgens may play only a partial role in the pathogenesis of some patients with FPHL and possibly no role in other patients.
It is known that FPHL results from progressive miniaturization of follicles. Large follicles producing terminal hairs are transformed into smaller vellus-like follicles producing vellus hairs. Scalp biopsies of patients with FPHL demonstrate this phenomenon by showing a range of hair shaft diameters with progressively smaller than normal shafts. Total hair density is normal (or slightly decreased in long-standing cases).