Diffuse alopecia wields a significant psychosocial burden by virtue of its clinical presentation and visibility. Patterned alopecia is an umbrella term with the focus point being androgen-mediated alopecias - androgenetic alopecia/male pattern baldness/male androgenetic alopecia and female pattern hair loss/female androgenetic alopecia, both of which have a genetic susceptibility that alters the follicular sensitivity to circulating androgens. Diffuse alopecia affects nearly half the population based on weighted averages. It may present with hair shedding and hair thinning (miniaturization) or a combination. With the female variant, the role of androgens is not fully delineated; hence, the term female pattern hair loss which has replaced prior nomenclature. Managing patterned hair loss has seen a sea change in the last decade, moving well beyond the FDA-approved modalities - topical minoxidil and oral finasteride. Through this short review, the authors have attempted to condense existing information into a ready reference.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.