THE NEW YORK TIMES

“When It's Hair, You Can Be Too Thin“

By LAUREL NAVERSEN GERAGHTY  |  Published: September 22, 2005

As Joan Denton flipped through her son's wedding album two years ago, something caught her eye, and it wasn't the beaming groom or the radiant bride. It was the sight of her own scalp. "I realized I could see through my hair to the top of my head a little bit," said Ms. Denton, 59 , of Eatontown, N.J.

Since then Ms. Denton has invested thousands of dollars in pills, potions, gels, hair powders and special shampoos in an attempt to preserve, fatten and fluff up her hair. "But it just kept getting thinner," she said. "I felt horrible about myself - ugly."

Her experience is hardly unique. An estimated 30 million women - about one in five - suffer from female-pattern hair loss, according to the Women's Institute for Fine and Thinning Hair, an organization sponsored by Pfizer, the maker of Rogaine for men and women. Millions more suffer hair loss caused by compulsive hair pulling or by wearing tight braids, ponytails and other styles that tug at the scalp.

Women are still not as likely as men to be troubled by thinning hair; as many as one in two men lose their hair by the age of 50. And their loss is rarely as obvious as men's bald crowns. Women's hair thins over the entire head. Still, this thinning can be noticeable. It raises the risk of sunburn and even skin cancer on the scalp. And it is a source of great anxiety.

"Hair is like our security blanket," said Felicia Milewicz, the beauty director of Glamour, who said that thinning hair is a common complaint voiced by readers. "Without hair we feel totally exposed. It's like standing naked in front of the entire world."

Women have long suffered in silence, resorting to wigs and scarves to conceal their sparse locks. But they are increasingly coming forward to ask for remedies, doctors and salon owners say. As new medical treatments have boosted standards of perfection for every part of the face - whiter teeth, smoother skin, wider eyes - women may be less willing to tolerate thinning hair. And, said Dr. Alan J. Bauman, a hair transplant surgeon and founder of the Bauman Medical Group, in Boca Raton, Fla., women are increasingly aware that topical medicines, hair transplants and laser treatments designed for men can help them, too...

'Before' and 6 months 'After' approximately 1700+ grafts     |      Joan 'Before,' 6 mos, and 12 mos 'After'