How fast does female pattern hair loss progress?

I’ve selected this question below for this week’s question of the week. It allows us to review some concepts related to the speed of progression of female androgenetic alopecia

Question

I want to know how fast does FPHL progress once it starts? Is it a fast thing - or a slow thing?

Answer

Thank you for your question.

The speed of hair loss varies from patient to patient. It can range from 6 month to 6 years before further changes can be detected. It is extremely variable and depends alot on a person's underlying genetics and how frequent they have episodes of telogen effluvium that may accelerate the baseline rate of the androgenetic alopecia.

Some females have a form of FPHL that really does not progress all that fast. Young women with onset 15-24 may have a higher chance of having a pattern that progresses faster (without treatment).

With treatment of course, this can all be changed. The hope with treatment is that FPHL can be slowed and even improved for many.