The Birth Control Pill and Hair Loss
The birth control pill has been used by women since the 60’s,to help prevent the chance of becoming pregnant. The FDA approved the birth control pill to be used for this specific reason and women began seeing that it was better just to take a pill to help prevent pregnancy.However, they also found out that it regulated periods, cleared up facial acne, and minimized cramping typically associated with menstrual periods.
The birth control pills had the same type of hormones that the body naturally made; estrogen and progestin. These hormones play an important role in balancing out their hormonal system. With every pill you can expect some type of side effect.
Several different side effects have been experienced by women who have taken the birth control pill. The side effects range from mild to severe and causes several difficult problems. Hair loss is an example of just one of the several side effects that have been reported. If a family history of female pattern baldness or thinning hair does exist you may want to consider this before undertaking birth control pills.
Talking with your doctor is highly recommended to find out what your options are in relation to taking birth control pills. That is because some birth control methods have less hormone levels in the actual dosages. Typically,your doctor will recommend that you start on a low dose birth control pill. Your doctor may even recommend a non hormonal birth control pill if by chance there is a genetic predisposition towards hair loss.
It is probably best to avoid the following types of birth control if you female hair loss is a genetic trait.
-Hormone injections - Containing the hormone, progestin, these injections are meant to keep a woman from ovulating.
-Skin patches - To be worn on your body thisand it continually releases the hormones progestin and estrogen into the body at a low dose
-Implants - This is where a device that contains progestin is implanted into the body. This device is programmed to repeatedly release a regulated dose of progestin into the body. This in turn inhibits a woman to ovulate.
Monitoring you hair loss while using birth control is important in determining when an alternative birth control is needed in order to stop the hair loss. Discuss all the alternatives with your doctor prior to starting any kind of birth control regimen. If hair loss is not genetic in your family, the birth control pill may be tolerable without the side effect of female hair loss.