HRT as a Hair Loss Treatment: Benefits and Risks
The menopause is well known for causing women to experience mood fluctuations and hot flashes, but did you know it can also cause hair loss? The decreased levels of hormones caused by the menopause may thin the hair on your head as well as cause hair to sprout in places you don’t want it.
What causes menopausal or post-menopausal pattern baldness?
Hair loss during the menopause is due to your body producing lower levels of oestrogen and progesterone. These hormones help hair stay on the head and grow faster, so the less your body produces, the slower and thinner your hair will be.
Oestrogen also keeps hair in the growth phase of the hair growth cycle so if the hair cycle is interrupted, hair will shed faster than it can regrow.
To make matters worse, whilst the hair on your head thins, changes in hormone levels can also cause hair to sprout in places like your chin or upper lip.
Hair Loss Treatment
A common treatment for menopausal or post-menopausal women is hormone replacement therapy (HRT). HRT can reduce the severity of menopausal symptoms because it helps balance your hormones by raising oestrogen levels. Higher levels of oestrogen can also help with hair loss and hair thinning.
HRT is not right for everyone. Those who are at risk of adverse affects or those who are not menopausal or post-menopausal should not take it. If you have a genetic history of pattern baldness, HRT may not be as effective when dealing with menopausal hair loss.
Hormone replacement therapy comes in several forms like patches, tablets, gels, and creams.
- Estradot Patches: Estradot provides HRT through the application of patches to the skin. It is an oestrogen only form of HRT that can help with the side effects of the menopause and potentially prevent osteoporosis from developing.
- Evorel Patches: Another patch form of oestrogen only HRT, Evorel Patches are an effective treatment method for relieving the unpleasant side effects of the menopause.
- Femostin Tablets: Femostin is a tablet version of HRT that is suitable for post-menopausal women who have an intact uterus. It is a combined HRT that contains both oestrogen and progestogen that is taken each day to treat menopausal symptoms.
Estradot Patches, Evorel Patches, and Femoston Tablets are available online in the UK from one of the country’s leading online pharmacies, Pharmacy Planet.