Several years ago, Sara Taggart started noticing she was losing a lot of hair whenever she took a shower. As she combed it, more hairs would end up in the sink. Then one day she noticed a patch of bare skin on the back of her head - a bald spot.
Taggart, who manages a private estate in Baltimore County, was distraught. Her mother had lost a lot of her hair in her 60s and 70s, gradually becoming bald. But Taggart was only 53.
"I was afraid this was going to happen to me, too," she says. "My family started noticing I was losing my hair. Then my friends said, 'Oh my goodness, you're losing a lot of hair.' It was making me so uncomfortable and depressed, I started shopping for a wig. Then I said 'No! I've got to go for help.' "
After examining her thoroughly to rule out any medical reason for hair loss, dermatologist Robert Weiss prescribed spironolactone. A diuretic commonly used for high blood pressure, spironolactone also blocks androgens, male hormones that can accelerate hair loss.
Taggart's hair has grown back healthy and thick, but she remembers the scare.
Although most attention has focused on men who lose their hair, hair thinning and shedding is common in women and can be more devastating, dermatologists say.
For reasons ranging from chemotherapy to the hormones of pregnancy, millions of American women experience the shock of temporary hair loss. But some have genetic hair loss because of the same hormonal process that causes men to bald. The American Academy of Dermatology says there are no statistics available on exactly how many.
Genetically based hair thinning, known as androgenetic alopecia, can be tougher psychologically on women than on men, says dermatologist Margaret Weiss, an assistant professor of dermatology at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions who operates a private practice in Baltimore County with her husband, Robert.
"Hair loss doesn't have to be as severe in a woman as it is in a man for her to feel [unattractive]," says Margaret Weiss. "A guy can have just enough hair to frame his face and look fine - but for a woman, the same amount of hair would not look fine.
"Psychologically, hair loss is very difficult for women because society is so much less accepting of their physical imperfections. There are no bald role models for women as there are for men. And even though it is very tough on men to have their hair thin, they've seen their fathers going through it."
