located a specific gene which was the trigger for baldness in women

A research project done by scientists at the University of Melbourne and St Vincents Hospital in Australia may lead to a cure for women who suffer from hair loss. They said that they had located a specific gene which was the trigger for baldness in women and could enable them to come up with remedies to counteract it.

By mapping out the DNA of nearly 500 female volunteers who had already shed 50% of their hair they looked for gene variants which set these women aside from a control group of women who did not suffer from any hair loss. The results showed that the women who were experiencing hair loss tended to have a type of oestrogen receptor beta gene called ESR2 that increases the sensitivity of hair follicles to the levels of oestrogen in the body.

While hair loss tends to be more of a male problem when it does affect women it is much more emotionally distressing. Men very often learn to cope with male pattern baldness and find living with it hardly an issue; however for women being bald is usually unbearable and extremely humiliating.

What is interesting about this research is that previously many scientists felt that high levels of oestrogen actually worked to prevent baldness and even encouraged hair growth because it was in direct contrast to the masculine hormone testosterone which is directly linked to increased rates of male pattern baldness.

Professor Rod Sinclair who formed part of the research team said this is because women often note that their hair is thicker during pregnancy [when they have high levels of oestrogen] , and often suffer from mild hair loss immediately after the birth and when there are breastfeeding which is when their bodies usually have lower levels of oestrogen.

The study will be presented to the World Congress for Hair Research that is going to take place in June will highlight the genetic factors which come into play in hair loss patients and also stress the likelihood for potential remedies to be found at the genetic level rather than from external and topical applications.

At present there are no remedies available for women suffering from genetic hair loss however men are lucky that they can use Propecia which prevents the buildup of dihydrotestosterone which is the direct cause of male pattern baldness.