While it may be normal for a woman’s hairline to get a little higher with age, some women are born with a high hairline, and for others, excessive hair recession can be distressing. Several conditions can cause this problem, and there are surgical options available to lower the hairline and restore your appearance.
What Causes a High Female Hairline?
Women may experience hair loss, including loss along the forehead line, at any age. This can lead to your forehead looking higher than it used to or your hairline looking receded along the sides.
Potential causes of a receding hairline in women include:
- Female pattern hair loss
- Prior browlift
- Hormonal changes during pregnancy
- Medications for cholesterol, heart disease, blood pressure and other chronic conditions
- Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
- Poor diet or malnutrition
- Problems with the thyroid gland
- Wearing hair pulled back too tightly
- Trauma
- Alopecia areata
- Excessive use of chemical hair products
- Stress
If you don’t have any of these conditions or risk factors, your high hairline may simply be a result of genetics.
Options for Lowering a High Hairline
High or receding female hairlines caused by medical conditions or poor self-care may be able to at least be partially improved with lifestyle or diet or hair styling changes, or certain medical therapies. Correcting hormonal imbalances and managing stress are also potential options for slowing down and even reversing some of the hair loss. For genetically high hairlines or conditions in which hair isn’t likely to grow back, you may wish to consider surgery. Hair transplants are refined procedures in which healthy hair is taken from the back and or sides of the head then placed into the hairline where they will then continue to grow for a lifetime, even if no hair ever grew in that now-lower hairline location. With a hair transplant, hundreds to typically 2000 or more hair grafts will be placed in a single procedure taking four to eight hours to perform, in a painless fashion. These transplanted hairs will fall out within three weeks, then start to regrow at four months and will continue to grow like normal scalp hair. The alternative to grafting is hairline lowering surgery- also called forehead reduction surgery, or the surgical hairline advancement (SHA), where the entire hairline is surgically lowered to a lower desired position. This procedure takes two hours to perform, and creates a virtually instantaneous lower, thick hairline unsurpassed by the hair transplant technique. In order to be a good candidate for the hairline lowering surgery, the patient needs to have a relatively flexible scalp that can be pushed forward at least one-half an inch, as well as a strong permanent hairline.
Is Hairline Reduction Surgery Right for You?
Being a woman makes you a better candidate for surgical hairline advancement than a man, and thicker hair and a flexible scalp increase the positive outcomes from the procedure. There are few surgeons that perform both hairline lowering procedures, so unfortunately many patients are not advised as to both options. Before deciding on a hairline lowering procedure, find a doctor who can explain all your options, as well as be committed to determining the cause of your hair loss and whether or not it can be reversed.