Abstract
A 62-year-old postmenopausal woman presents with a complaint of scalp hair loss. It has been present for several years, but worsened recently several months after a hospital admission for pneumonia, prompting the visit. She noticed an abrupt onset of hair shedding beginning 3 months after her hospitalization, and which lasted for almost 3 months. She reports that her shedding has since slowed and is back to baseline. She is otherwise healthy except for a history of recently diagnosed mild hypertension and osteoarthritis. Her medications include lisinopril, which she has been on for 6 months, and ibuprofen. She reports that her father became bald at a young age, but denies any hair loss complaint among women in her family.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Olsen EA, Bergfeld WF, Cotsarelis G, Price VH, Shapiro J, Sinclair R, Solomon A, Sperling L, Stenn K, Whiting DA, Bernardo O, Bettencourt M, Bolduc C, Callendar V, Elston D, Hickman J, Ioffreda M, King L, Linzon C, McMichael A, Miller J, Mulinari F, Trancik R, Workshop on Cicatricial Alopecia. Summary of North American Hair Research Society (NAHRS)-sponsored Workshop on Cicatricial Alopecia, Duke University Medical Center, February 10 and 11, 2001. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2003;48(1):103–10.
Ali I, Wojnarowska F. Physiologic changes in scalp, facial and body hair after the menopause: a cross-sectional population based study of subjective changes. Br J Dermatol. 2011;164:508–13.
Blume-Peytavi U, Atkin S, Gieler U, Grimalt R. Skin academy: Hair, skin, hormones and menopause – current status/knowledge on the management of hair disorders in menopausal women. Eur J Dermatol. 2012;22(3):310–8.
Chen WC, Yand CC, Todorova A, Al Khuzaei S, et al. Hair loss in elderly women. Eur J Dermatol. 2012;20(2):145–51.
Robbins C, Mirmirani P, Messenger AG, Birch MP, Youngquist RS, Tamura M, Filloon T, Luo F, Dawson Jr TL. What women want – quantifying the perception of hair amount: an analysis of hair diameter and density changes with age in Caucasian women. Br J Dermatol. 2012;167(2):324–32.
Ellis JA, Sinclair R, Harrap SB. Androgenetic alopecia: pathogenesis and potential for therapy. Exp Rev Mol Med. 2002;4(22):1–11.
Mirmirani P. Managing hair loss in midlife women. Maturitas. 2013;74:119–22.
Sawaya ME, Price VH. Different levels of 5alpha-reductase type I and II, aromatase, and androgen receptor in hair follicles of women and men with androgenetic alopecia. J Investig Dermatol. 1997;109(3):296–300.
Childs JM, Sperling LC. Histopathology of scarring and nonscarring hair loss. Dermatol Clin. 2013;31:43–56.
Whiting DA. Chronic telogen effluvium. Dermatol Clin. 1996;14(4):723–31.
Patel M, Harrison S, Sinclair R. Drugs and hair loss. Dermatol Clin. 2013;31(1):67–73.
Baibergenova A, Donovon J. Lichen planopilaris: update on pathogenesis and treatment. Skinmed. 2013;11(3):161–5.
Kossard S. Postmenopausal frontal fibrosing alopecia. Scarring alopecia in a pattern distribution. Arch Dermatol. 1994;130:770–4.
Holmes S, MacDonald A. Frontal fibrosing alopecia. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2014;71(3):593–4.
Kantor J, Kessler LJ, Brooks DG, Cotsarelis G. Decreased serum ferritin is associated with alopecia in women. J Invest Dermatol. 2003;121:985–8.
Rushton DH. Management of hair loss in women. Dermatol Clin. 1993;11(1):47–53.
Lim YY, Kim SY, Kim HM, Li KS, Kim MN, Park KC, Kim BJ. Potential relationship between the canonical Wnt signaling pathway and expression of the vitamin D receptor in alopecia. Clin Exp Dermatol. 2014;39:368–75.
Mahamid M, Abu-Elhija O, Samamra M, Mahamid A, Nseir W. Association between vitamin D levels and alopecia areata. Isr Med Assoc J. 2014;16(6):367–70.
Mavroudis K, Aloumanis K, Papapetrou PD, Voros D, et al. Virilization caused by an ectopic adrenal tumor located behind the iliopsoas muscle. Fertil Steril. 2007;87(6):1468.e13–16.
Berbegal L, Albares MP, De-Leon FJ, Negueruela G. Alopecia and hirsutism in a postmenopausal woman as the presenting complaint of an ovarian hilus (Leydig) cell tumor. Actas Dermosifilogr. 2015;pii:S00001-7310(15)00129-5/doi:10.1016/j.ad.2014.12.022. [Epub ahead of print].
Mehta JM, Miller JL, Cannon AJ, Mardekian SK, et al. Ovarian leydig cell hyperplasia: an unusual case of virilization in a postmenopausal woman. Case Rep Endocrinol. 2014;2014:762745.
Ashawesh K, Aghilla MM, Randeva HS. Androgenic alopecia in postmenopausal hyperthecosis. J Obstet Gynaecol. 2011;31(4):351–2.
Lattouf C, Miteva M, Tosti A. Connubial androgenetic alopecia. Arch Dermatol. 2011;147(11):1329–30.
Mesinkovska NA, Bergfeld WF. Hair: what is new in diagnosis and management? Female Pattern Hair Loss Update: Diagnosis and Treatment. Dermatol Clin. 2013;31:119–27.
Blume-Peytavi U, Hillmann K, Dietz E, Canfield C, Garcia BN. A randomized, single-blind trial of 5% minoxidil foam once daily versus 2% minoxidil solution twice daily in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia in women. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2011;65:1126–34.
Rogers NE, Avram MR. Medical treatments for male and female pattern hair loss. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2008;59:547–66.
Scheinfeld N. A review of hormonal therapy for female pattern (androgenic) alopecia. Dermatol Online J. 2008;14(3):1.
Sinclair R, Wewerinke M, Jolley D. Treatment of female pattern hair loss with oral antiandrogens. Br J Dermatol. 2005;152(3):466–73.
Price V, Roberts JL, Hordinsky M, Olsen EA, et al. Lack of efficacy of finasteride in postmenopausal women with androgenetic alopecia. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2000;43(5 Pt 1):768–76.
Trueb RM. Finasteride treatment of patterned hair loss in normogandrogenic postmenopausal women. Dermatology. 2004;209(3):202–7.
Iorizzo M, Vincenzi C, Voudouris S, Piraccini BM, Tosti A. Finasteride treatment of female pattern hair loss. Arch Dermatol. 2006;142(3):298–302.
Yeon JH, Jung JY, Choi JW, Kim BJ, Youn SW, Park KC, Huc CH. 5mg/day finasteride treatment for normoandrogenic Asian women with female pattern hair loss. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2011;25(2):211–4.
Oliveira-Soares R, E Silva JM, Correia MP, André MC. Finasteride 5mg/day treatment of patterned hair loss in normo-androgenic postmenopausal women. Int J Trichol. 2013;5(1):22–5.
Shapiro J, Price VH. Hair regrowth. Therapeutic agents. Dermatol Clin. 1998;16(2):341–56.
Orentreich DS, Orentreich N. Hair transplantation. J Dermatol Surg Oncol. 1985;11(3):319–24.
Zarei M, Falto-Aizpurua L, Wikramanayake TC, Schachner LA, Jimenez JJ. Low level laser therapy and hair regrowth:an evidence-based review. Lasers Med Sci. 2016;31:363–71.
Alkhalifah A. Alopecia areata update. Dermatol Clin. 2013;31:93–108.
Samrao A, Chew AL, Price V. Frontal fibrosing alopecia: a clinical review of 36 patients. Br J Dermatol. 2010;163(6):1296–300.
Ladizinski B, Bazakas A, Selim MA, Olsen EA. Frontal fibrosing alopecia: a retrospective review of 19 patients seen at Duke University. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2013;68(5):749–55.
Vañó-Galván S, Molina-Ruiz AM, Serrano-Falcón C, Arias-Santiago S, Rodrigues-Barata AR, Garnacho-Saucedo G, Martorell-Calatayud A, Fernández-Crehuet P, Grimalt R, Aranegui B, Grillo E, Diaz-Ley B, Salido R, Pérex-Gala S, Serrano S, Moreno JC, Jaén P, Camacho RM. Frontal fibrosing alopecia: a multicenter review of 355 patients. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2014;70(4):670–8.
Donovan JC, Shapiro RL, Shapiro P, Zupan M, Pierre-Louis M, Hordinsky MK. A review of scalp camouflaging agents and prostheses for individuals with hair loss. Dermatol Online J. 2012;18(8):1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Goldberg, L.J. (2017). Postmenopausal Alopecia (Hair Loss). In: Pal, L., Sayegh, R. (eds) Essentials of Menopause Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42451-4_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42451-4_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-42449-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-42451-4
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)