Estrogen and Hair Loss

Disclaimer: This article is not be taken as medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor.

Estrogen is most commonly known for the development of sex characteristics in females. But there’s more to it than just its sexual function. A high or low level of estrogen can make a big difference in your physical and emotional well-being.

Contrary to popular belief that only female have this hormone, male also have estrogen but only in a level lower than that of a female. Both male and female need estrogen not only for reproductive and sexual reasons but for the other body organs to function normally as well.

Estrogen can burn fats, maintains our skin’s vessels, increases bone formation, regulates fluid balance, support the lungs and many others. It is also being used to treat prostate cancer.

Estrogens, sometimes spelled as oestrogens, are sets of steroid compounds or hormones naturally found in our body. It can also be synthesized like in the form of oral contraceptive pills. Synthetic estrogens are also induced to menopausal women to prevent osteoporosis and discomforts. It is also being used as part of hormone replacement therapy in transwomen (transsexuals).

Do you know that it has a lot to do with a woman’s mood swings too? Nowadays, men usually assume that a woman is menstruating when she’s in a bad mood or is easily irritated. The same goes with menopausal women because it is in this period that their estrogen levels are at their lowest point.

Estrogen really plays an important role in both men and women’s health. For one, estrogen is responsible for developing follicles in a woman’s ovaries, corpus luteum and placenta necessary for the conception of a child.

Testosterone in men is converted into estrogen to promote their masculinity.
What will happen when both men and women have low levels of estrogen? It can trigger obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in males while females can experience hot flashes, irregular menstruation cycles, intensified migraine and urinary problems.

But both men and women may also suffer hair loss due to estrogen deficiency. This is simply because estrogen is responsible for the health and growth of our hair follicles.

Estrogen-related hair loss may start from the thinning of the crown or top of the head, creating bald spots. In normal levels of estrogen, it works to reduce body hair and promote hair growth on the head. So the lack of estrogen will do otherwise, increase in facial hair and less in the head.

But let us thank modern science for estrogen is now synthesized and we can choose from various estrogen replacement therapies available in the form of patches, pills, creams and injection shots.