Featuring Dr. Bal Pawa, BPharm, MD

Duration: 1 minute, 34 seconds

Hair loss is important in any gender, but it's especially important in women because it's their definition point of personal style, it's their crowning glory. So when general hair loss occurs, panic ensues.

What they have to remember, is hair grows in cycles of rest and growth, and usually it's a three month cycle. Often if they've experienced a very stressful event, three months later they may lose their hair.

When we're looking at hair loss in women, generally what we see are women who are coming in who have polycystic ovaries and they develop what's called androgenetic alopecia, which is when their testosterone and DHA break down into DHT so they have an abnormal enzyme.

When we're looking at hair loss in women it's important to investigate the cause - that's the number one rule. We'll often look at anemia as a cause at well, or medications that women are taking.

So blood work is often required, and it's very important for women then to have that conversation with their physician to go through all the factors and figure out what the cause of the hair loss is, and then it can be addressed appropriately.

If you have questions about hair loss in women, contact a local family physician or gynecologist.

Presenter: Dr. Bal Pawa, Family Doctor, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Family Doctor