Diffuse hair loss in women.

In summary, the presenting signs of diffuse hair loss was thinning of the scalp hair with associated receding of frontal and temporal hairlines. The majority of patients experienced telogen efflivium between the ages of twenty and sixty years. The hair loss could be classified according to the multiple presumptive etiologic factors; hereditary, hormonal, or systemic disorders, drugs, nutritional deficits, neoplasms, physical and chemical trauma, and psychological disorders. Of the 129 women evaluated, 30 percent had concomitant systemic disorders or precipitating causes. This report stresses the importance of a full hiar loss evaluation and an attempt to identify the etiologic factors or disease states that may precipitate or exacerbate an existing condition such as androgenic alopecia. It is hoped that the outlines for the initial history and examination presented in this report will help to direct the physician's evaluation of hair loss problems in women.