When Medi Tresse opened 2015, our mission was two-fold. First, we wanted to help all women experiencing hair loss feel empowered by their options and reclaim their confidence. Secondly, as the leading medical professionals in our industry, we wanted to normalize women’s hair loss through education while creating a caring and supportive community for women. That second part is the hardest, but most important part of our mission.
The reason I am sharing this, is due to a recent patient interaction that I had during a consultation. During the consultation I made a comment about the patient’s hair loss and the patient was slightly taken aback and stated that they did not suffer from hair loss. The patient went on to state that she only has some thinning hair, but not hair loss. This is actually something that is not that uncommon to hear from patients at Medi Tresse.
While hair loss may seem fairly objective, either you have it or you don’t, in reality, that is not how people feel about hair loss. The truth is that everybody has different perceptions about what counts as hair loss. We have some patients that come in with what appear to be full heads of hair, but they are noticing changes in their hair and feel they have hair loss that needs to be treated. We have other patients that come in with what we would consider advanced female hair loss, but they feel like they have just started to notice hair loss or they have always had fine hair so it really is not that advanced to them. It is important not to minimize anyone’s feelings about what they are experiencing.
It is just as important to break through the negative connotations of words and phrases like “hair loss”, ”thinning hair”, or “alopecia”. Thankfully, with the patient I alluded to above, even though this patient did not think they had hair loss, they were still seeking treatment. Unfortunately, many women are unable to take the next step to see a specialist, because doing so would be an admission that they are experiencing hair loss. Hopefully, through greater awareness of how common hair loss is in women and the treatments available, we will be able to break free of our negative perceptions of female hair loss.
We know it is not easy, but important work never is. When you are ready to take that next step, please know that staff at Medi Tresse is here for you.
Posted by Dr. Mary Wendel
