A study of the clinical patterns of hair loss in female patients

Abstract

Background: Hair loss is the one of the most common complaints in dermatologic patients. The proper cause of female pattern hair loss is still unclear. Many studies have been done on the individual patterns of hair loss but there are very few studies available about the different clinical patterns of hair loss in females in a single study. Objectives: To evaluate the clinical patterns of hair loss in females which manifest in various disorders. Materials and Methods: 120 subjects were studied in a hospital based descriptive study with detailed history, general physical examination, detailed hair, scalp, cutaneous examination, clinical tests, routine haematological investigations, biopsy where indicated. Results: Maximum subjects were in the age group of 20 – 40 years (66.6%). Majority of the subjects presented with a diffuse hair loss (55.8%). In our study although majority of the cases were not associated with any illness (52.5%),among the ones associated with illness the most common associated illness was history of COVID-19 (25.8%).Very few presented with scarring hair loss (5%). Conclusion: Telogen Effluvium was the most common cause of hair loss with maximum prevalence among females aged 20 to 40 years, with majority having hair loss over a period of 6 weeks to 6 month without any concurrent illness. The findings of this study provide baseline information on common clinical presentation of hair loss among women in our setting, thus helping in early clinical diagnosis and planning appropriate treatment.

Keywords

• alopecia
• female pattern hair loss
• hair loss