Scientists use 'arousometer' to measure what turns off women most

Scientists have taken the first biological measure of sexual arousal in women experiencing disgust, and found that feelings of disgust are a bigger turn-off than feelings of fear.

The "arousometer" was a vaginal photoplethysmograph - a clear acrylic tampon-shaped device to measure genital blood flow.

Using a device inserted into women to measure genital blood flow as a gauge of sexual arousal, Diana Fleischman, PhD, an evolutionary psychologist at the UK's University of Portsmouth, investigated 76 heterosexual women aged between 18 and 42 years.

The findings, which also measured the women's self-reported feelings, are published in the online journal PLOS One.

Dr. Fleischman says: "Sex includes increased contact with body odors and fluids which, in other contexts, strongly suggest disease and would elicit disgust.

"Women are more vulnerable to contracting diseases through sex than men and show worse outcomes once infected, so we should expect that women will be especially turned off when they are disgusted."

One group of women in the study were shown disgusting images before watching an erotic film. The second group watched an erotic film and were then shown disgusting images.

The third group were shown frightening images before watching an erotic film. And the fourth watched an erotic film and were then shown frightening images.

Images used to elicit disgust in the women included diseased or injured humans and human corpses, feces and people vomiting. The images designed to elicit fear included violent people, dangerous animals, weapons, heights, tornados and fire.

The erotic films were intended to be sexually appealing specifically to women and were produced and directed by women.

Before the experiments, all the women were asked to insert a vaginal photoplethysmograph - a clear acrylic tampon-shaped device that measures blood flow to the vagina as an indication of sexual arousal. They were also asked to report their own degree of arousal, disgust and fear after their tests.

Women exposed to disgusting images before watching an erotic film were three times less sexually aroused than those who had seen frightening images or those in the control group.

Overcoming disgust to have sex

Dr. Fleischman says: "It makes sense that sexual arousal and disgust would affect one another. Sexual arousal motivates us toward closeness with others and their bodies while disgust motivates us away." He adds:

"Given these competing motivations, every one of our ancestors had to overcome disgust in order to have sexual contact and reproduce."

The researchers found that previous evidence was mixed on the question of whether sexual arousal decreases feeling of disgust in women.

A consistent difference has been found between men and women: men are less sensitive to disgust when it comes to sex.

"Previous studies have found that men and women who are exposed to sexually explicit images report less disgust," Dr. Fleischman explains. "However, our study is the first to measure blood flow to the genitals, which is necessary for sexual arousal, and how it interacts with disgust."

The research found that women who are not very sensitive to feelings of disgust reduce their sensitivity further when sexually aroused.

By contrast, women who are highly disgust-sensitive show greater disgust when they are sexually aroused.

Dr Fleischman says: "When we are deciding whether to have sex, there are trade-offs to consider. On the one hand you must have sex to reproduce, and on the other hand sexual encounters are risky for disease transmission.

"What our results suggest is that the story is more complicated for women and that women differ in how sexual arousal changes their disgust response."

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The Meaning of Pupil Dilation

Scientists are using pupil measurements to study a wide range of psychological processes and to get a glimpse into the mind.

What do an orgasm, a multiplication problem and a photo of a dead body have in common? Each induces a slight, irrepressible expansion of the pupils in our eyes, giving careful observers a subtle but meaningful signal that thoughts and feelings are afoot.

Wikimedia, Steve Jurvetson

For more than a century, scientists have known that our pupils respond to more than changes in light. They also betray mental and emotional commotion within. In fact, pupil dilation correlates with arousal so consistently that researchers use pupil size, or pupillometry, to investigate a wide range of psychological phenomena. And they do this without knowing exactly why our eyes behave this way. “Nobody really knows for sure what these changes do,” said Stuart Steinhauer, who directs the Biometrics Research Lab at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

While the visual cortex in the back of the brain assembles the images we see, a different, older part of our nervous system manages the continuous tuning of our pupil size, alongside other functions—like heart rate and perspiration—that operate mostly outside our conscious control. This autonomic nervous system dictates the movement of the iris, like the lens of a camera, to regulate the amount of light that enters the pupil.

The iris is made of two types of muscle: in a brightly lit environment, a ring of sphincter muscles that encircle and constrict the pupil down to as little as a couple of millimeters across; in the dark, a set of dilator muscles laid out like bicycle spokes, which can expand the pupil up to 8 millimeters—approximately the diameter of a chickpea.

Cognitive and emotional events can also dictate pupil constriction and expansion, though such events occur on a smaller scale than the light reflex, causing changes generally less than half a millimeter. But that’s enough. By recording subjects’ eyes with infrared cameras and controlling for other factors that might affect pupil size, like brightness, color, and distance, scientists can use pupil movements as a proxy for other processes, like mental strain.

Princeton psychologist Daniel Kahneman showed several decades ago that pupil size increases in proportion to the difficulty of the task at hand. Calculate 9 times 13, and you pupils will dilate slightly. Try 29 times 13, and they will widen further and remain dilated until you reach the answer or stop trying. As Kahneman says in his recent book, Thinking Fast and Slow, he could divine when someone gave up on a multiplication problem simply by watching for pupil contraction during the experiment.

“The pupils reflect the extent of mental effort in an incredibly precise way,” Kahneman told the German news magazine Der Spiegel, adding, “I have never done any work in which the measurement is so precise.” When he instructed subjects to remember and recite a series of seven digits, their pupils grew steadily as the numbers were presented one-by-one and shrunk steadily as they unloaded the digits from memory.

Subsequent research found that the pupils of intelligent people (as defined by their SAT scores) dilated less in response to cognitive tasks compared to those of less intelligent participants, possibly indicating a more efficient use of brainpower. 

Scientists have since used pupillometry to assess everything from sleepiness to introversion, race bias,schizophrenia, sexual interest, moral judgment, autism, and depression. And while they haven’t been reading people’s thoughts per se, they’ve come pretty close.

“Pupil dilation can betray an individual’s decision before it is openly revealed,” concluded a 2010 study led by Wolfgang Einhäuser-Treyer, a neurophysicist at The Philipp University of Marburg in Germany. In the study, participants were told to press a button at any point during a 10 second interval, and their pupil size correlated with the timing of their decision. The dilation began about 1 second before they pressed the button and peaked 1 to 2 seconds after.

But are pupils informative outside the lab? Men’s Health Magazine says you can tell when it’s “time to make your move” by watching your date’s pupils, but some skepticism is warranted. “It is unclear to me to what extent this can be exploited in completely unrestrained settings,” Einhäuser-Treyer wrote in an email, pointing out that light conditions could easily interfere with attempts at interpersonal pupillometry.

Other efforts to exploit pupil dilations for purposes beyond scientific research have failed. During the Cold War, Canadian officials tried to develop a device they called the “fruit machine” to detect homosexuality among government employees by measuring how their pupils responded to racy images of women and men. The machine, which never worked, was to aid the government’s purge of gay men and lesbians from the civil service and thereby purportedly reduce their vulnerability to Soviet blackmail.

A pupil test for sexual orientation remains as unlikely as it was in the 1960s. Researchers at Cornell University recently showed that sexual orientation correlated with pupil dilation to erotic videos of their preferred gender, but the trend was only apparent when averaged across subjects, and only for male subjects. While pupillometry shows promise as a noninvasive measure of sexual response, they concluded, “not every participant’s sexual orientation was correctly classified” and “an observable amount of variability in pupil dilation was unrelated to the participant’s sexual orientation.”

Pupillometry also became popular in the advertising industry during the 1970s as a way to test consumers’ responses to television commercials, said Jagdish Sheth, a marketing professor at Emory University. But the practice was eventually abandoned. “There was no scientific way to establish whether it measured interest or anxiety,” Sheth said.

Indeed, pupillometry is limited in its ability to distinguish between the many types of cognitive and emotional processes that can affect pupil dilation. “All we can do is watch the change at the end,” Steinhauer said. “We can't monitor everything going into it.”

Still, he added, our eyes are easy to observe and provide a sensitive indicator of cognitive, emotional, and sensory response, making pupillometry a valuable tool for psychological research. “It's like having an electrode permanently implanted in the brain.”

This article is provided by Scienceline, a project of New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. 

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Wired Health: how are innovative technologies disrupting health care?

Last Friday, April 24th, marked the second annual Wired Health conference in London, UK, where members of the health care industry and curious spectators came together to discuss and explore how technology is shaping medicine today.

Health care aficionados, technological innovators and curious spectators met in London for a 1-day summit investigating the latest advances in the medical sector.

human behavior, Sutherland cited the rise in unnecessary visits to the UK's emergency departments coinciding with a shift in what it was called. Though it was once widely known as "Accidents and Emergencies," it is now referred to as merely "A&E," taking away the inherently bloody connotations and making it sound more like the initials of two people in love.

Rory Sutherland, of Ogilvy & Mather, addresses a packed audience at Wired Health 2015.

Referring to the emergency department by its full name on signs and in official literature could encourage patients to direct themselves to their GPs instead, decreasing the number of patients who unnecessarily use the emergency service and saving the UK's National Health Service (NHS) precious money.

"If you create a name for something," Sutherland added, "we automatically assume it's a norm."

He also explained that the way choices are presented can affect outcomes, particularly in the health care setting.

For example, when the NHS implemented the use of delayed prescriptions for antibiotics - when a prescription goes into effect a few days after an appointment, in a "wait-and-see approach" - unnecessary use of antibiotics decreased significantly.

In effect, changing the choice structure of things can alter behavior.

Removing the 'wrong' choice

Another man who recognizes that manipulating how choices are made can have positive effects in the field of medicine is Marc Koska, founder of the LifeSaver program. He noted that around the world, 1.3 million people die every year from infected needles that are reused.

After years of researching this problem, Koska came up with a simple solution to disrupt it: a syringe that is impossible to reuse. His K1 syringe is made on the same machinery and from the same materials as existing syringes, but it has an auto-disable mechanism that prevents reuse by employing a plunger that automatically locks in place and breaks if forced.

Koska showed conference-goers heartbreaking undercover footage of small children receiving injections with needles that had previously been used on HIV-positive patients, demonstrating the problem the global health care community faces.

The issue is so great that the World Health Organization (WHO) announced their third ever global policy, aiming to reduce unnecessary injections and ensure that only auto-disable syringes are used. This mandate will come into effect in 2020.

Koska noted that for every $1 spent on proper syringe disposal, over $14 could be saved on health care costs resulting from HIV, HBV and HCV. His charity SafePoint is working to improve this basic level of health care around the world. By taking the option of making the wrong decision out of the equation, Koska and colleagues are disrupting the unsafe practices that put patients at risk.

Bringing the element of choice to alternative limbs

For those who have lost limbs, there has been relatively little choice when it comes to what kind of prosthetic will become their new arm or leg. Though there have been advancements in so-called bionic reconstructions, the ability for a patient to take ownership over the design of their new limb has not really been an option - until now, that is.

The Alternative Limb Project, led by Sophie de Oliveira Barata, brings this choice to the patient, creating bespoke prosthetics for those who have lost their limbs. Each client can plan the design, and the company then works with product designers to create beautiful works of art that are also functional arms, hands, legs or feet.

Some of the designs featured by The Alternative Limb Project included a crystal leg, a limb with a speaker and mp3 dock, and a Japanese-inspired leg with pullout compartments for storage.

Some of the beautiful creations on display at Wired Health even included secret compartments in which the wearer can store things.

Speaking to a packed crowd, de Oliveira Barata explained that one of her clients recently had the idea to add a drone to an artificial arm that can "fly off the arm like a hawk" and take aerial photos.

Her unique approach empowers her clients to take ownership of their limbs, making them stand out as works of art, rather than as something to be hidden away.

Work from the company was recently thrust into the spotlight when the UK's Channel 4 introduced singer and performance artist Viktoria Modesta as "the world's first amputee pop artist."

In the video below, Modesta wears several creations from The Alternative Limb Project, including the "Spike," the "Crystal" and the "Light."

Writing on the company's website, Modesta explains how, after a voluntary operation to remove her leg - which was damaged from birth - she did not want to hide her altered body:

"Initially, after my voluntary operation, I mostly wanted to get a leg that provided balance to my body in its shape. Three years after the amputation, I then saw it as an opportunity to regard the leg as a fashion item and an art project which seemed rather fun and exciting."

Disrupting the aging process

Another speaker who took the stage at Wired Health was Brad Perkins, of Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI) - a company that focuses on genomics and cell therapy. They are tackling diseases caused by age-related decline by building a comprehensive database on human genotypes and phenotypes.

Perkins began his career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), eventually spearheading investigations into the anthrax attacks in the US in 2001.

He explained that over the past 30 years, there has been a genomic revolution in bacteriology, in terms of how we study it, adding that "we humans are next" to go under the microscope.

HLI are currently working on building their database on human genotypes and phenotypes, and Perkins noted that "health care systems will be disrupted by this technology."

Interestingly, the integrated health records, along with clinical data that they are using to build their database, will become cloud-based and subjected to machine learning. HLI's 5-year goal is to achieve 1 million integrated health records so that they can fully interpret the meaning of the human genome.

"There is a potential to generate as many insights into health and disease as there has been in the last 100 years in the next 10 years," Perkins said, thus contributing to extended life spans.

Notable technological innovations

Between the Bupa Startup Stage - a platform for new companies to present their products and innovations - and the Wired Health Clinic - an exhibition where conference-goers were able to interact with new technologies - there was no shortage of interesting gadgets and gizmos.

Starstim cap

Ana Maiques models the Starstim cap from Neuroelectrics for MNT at Wired Health.

One of the most striking gadgets was a noninvasive wireless cap, which acts as a neurostimulator. Named Starstim, the cap was created by Neuroelectrics, a company led by Ana Maiques.

The cap works by delivering a low current directly to the brain through small electrodes, and it acts as an electroencephalography (EEG) and accelerometry recording system.

Because the cap is portable, it can be used both in a clinical setting and at home, where patients can employ neurofeedback to balance their EEG.

Potential applications include treatment for ADHD, chronic pain,stroke rehabilitation, cognitive enhancement, addiction and depression.

Lumo graphic reader

When dealing with innovation, there are naturally challenges to overcome, and one of the biggest is funding. Anna Wojdecka, creator of the Lumo, spoke to Medical News Today about her search to find adequate funding to take her design from prototype to finished product. She described her product as such:

"Lumo is a low-cost graphic reader for the blind and visually impaired. It translates colors into sound and black lines into tactile feedback, enabling the user to read shapes, graphs and diagrams directly from a page and draw in color."

She added that the aim of her product is to "make learning environments more inclusive and enrich interaction between blind and sighted people." When the finished product is available, Wojdecka told MNT it will sell for between $150-200. She can be contacted via Twitter @helloLUMO.

Tao WellShell

The Tao WellShell fits in the palm of the hand, acting as a gym on the go.
Image credit: Tao Wellness

Another notable gadget was the Tao WellShell, which is a handheld device that fits in the palm of the hand and works in tandem with an app to give the user a resistance workout anywhere. It can be used at home, sitting at a desk or even on a bus, train or plane.

Insulin Angel

In the realm of tiny handheld devices sits the Insulin Angel, which tracks a medication's temperature to help the user monitor and maintain effectiveness. In addition to warning the user in the event the medication has been forgotten, the Insulin Angel also tracks medication usage and waste, and displays results through a smartphone app.

Cupris Health smartphone otoscope

Given that smartphones have become our constant companions these days, innovations that incorporate these devices make other technologies easily accessible. Cupris Health is a company that is doing just that; they have turned smartphones into medical devices by employing clip-on attachments.

They displayed their smartphone-connected otoscope at the conference, explaining that parents can now take pictures of their children's ears and send the images and symptoms directly to the doctor, who can remotely advise on treatment.

How can these disruptions work together?

If conference-goers were hoping to be spoiled for choice, Wired Health 2015 certainly did not disappoint. The vast amount of startups, gadgets and solutions on display was staggering. Though the main theme of disruption was reinforced throughout the speakers' presentations and in the innovations shown in the main hall, there was a sense of disjointedness this year.

Whereas last year's conference was overwhelmingly focused on how to harness data, this year's focus felt a bit forced, as if there was no clear way to sew everything together. But perhaps this is indicative of just how quickly and in how many different directions the health care industry is moving.

Indeed, how data, research and innovation can be unified and harnessed to result in positive health outcomes is the challenge the medical community faces today. Perhaps Wired Health 2016 will focus on this issue.

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Does having more sex make you less happy?

 The suggestion that sex boosts happiness has been made time and time again both in research papers and popular writing on the subject, such as self-help books. Now, a new study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, goes against conventional wisdom to cast doubt on the theory that the more sex we have, the happier we are.

The researchers believe that the group instructed to have more sex reported lower levels of happiness because the couples were required to have more sex as part of the study, rather than them initiating it naturally.

In 2013, a study published in Social Indicators Researchfound that people reported steadily higher levels of happiness with increasing sexual frequency. And people who believed they were having less sex than their peers reported being less happy than those who believed they were having as much or more sex than their peers.

That study found that people who had sex once a week were 44% more likely to report a higher level of happiness compared with peers who had no sex in the previous year, and people who had sex up to three times a week were 55% more likely to report higher levels of happiness.

While the team behind the 2013 study used national survey data and statistical analyses to arrive at its conclusions, the Carnegie Mellon (CMU) researchers behind the new study recruited 128 healthy, married individuals between the ages of 35 and 65 who were in male-female couples in an attempt to investigate how sexual frequency affects happiness,.

The couples were randomly assigned into either a group that was asked to double the frequency of their weekly sexual intercourse or a group that received no instructions on sexual frequency.

At the start of the study - the results of which are published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization - the participants completed surveys to establish baselines on health behaviors, happiness levels and occurrence, type and pleasure received from sex.

The couples also completed online questionnaires measuring these variables every day during the 3-month experimental period of the study. An exit survey was also completed to compare against the baseline results.

The CMU team found that the couples instructed to have more sex reported a small decrease in happiness, lower sexual desire and decreased enjoyment from sex.

However, the researchers believe that this lowered happiness was not simply caused by having more sex, but by the fact the couples were required to have more sex as part of the study, without them initiating it naturally.

Authors still believe that couples do not have enough sex

George Loewenstein, the study's lead investigator and the Herbert A. Simon University Professor of Economics and Psychology in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, explains:

"Perhaps couples changed the story they told themselves about why they were having sex, from an activity voluntarily engaged in to one that was part of a research study. If we ran the study again, and could afford to do it, we would try to encourage subjects into initiating more sex in ways that put them in a sexy frame of mind, perhaps with babysitting, hotel rooms or Egyptian sheets, rather than directing them to do so."

Interestingly, Prof. Loewenstein believes that the majority of couples have less sex than is good for them and considers increasing sexual frequency to be beneficial for most couples.

"The desire to have sex decreases much more quickly than the enjoyment of sex once it's been initiated," adds Tamar Krishnamurti, a research scientist in CMU's Department of Engineering and Public Policy.

"Instead of focusing on increasing sexual frequency to the levels they experienced at the beginning of a relationship," elaborates Krishnamurti, "couples may want to work on creating an environment that sparks their desire and makes the sex that they do have even more fun."

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Hair loss: how does it affect women?

 On seeing a bald man walk past, most of us wouldn't take a second glance. But would this be the case if a bald woman walked past? It is doubtful. Hair loss - although distressing - is generally more accepted in men, despite women accounting for 40% of all hair loss sufferers in the US. In this Spotlight, we look at the main causes of hair loss in women, the emotional toll it can take and why research is lagging behind in treatment for female hair loss.

Women account for 40% of all hair loss sufferers in the US.

The most common cause of hair loss in both men and women is androgenetic alopecia, also referred to as male or female pattern baldness.

A hereditary condition, androgenetic alopecia is believed to be caused by dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which derives from the male hormone testosterone.

An enzyme called Type 2 5-alpha reductase - present in the oil glands of hair follicles, the skin organs that produce hair - helps convert testosterone to DHT. This derivative then binds to and shrinks hair follicles, killing healthy hair.

Because men have higher testosterone levels than women, they are likely to produce higher DHT levels, leading to increased hair loss. As such, men with androgenetic alopecia often experience a receding hairline which can progress to partial or complete baldness, while women tend to experience hair thinning on the top and sides of the scalp.

"Hair thinning in female pattern baldness is different from that of male pattern baldness in that the frontal hairline remains unaffected except for normal recession, which happens to everyone as time passes, and hair loss rarely progresses to total or near total baldness, as it may in men," Dr. Marc Glashofer, a dermatologist and fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology, explained to Medical News Today.

But androgenetic alopecia is not the only cause of hair loss in women.

What are the other common causes of hair loss in women?

Telogen effluvium is a form of hair loss that can develop when the body is put through extreme stress, such as child birth, malnutrition or major surgery.

The condition involves a sudden shift from hair growth or resting phases to the hair shedding phase, known as telogen. This can occur within 6 weeks to 3 months after a stressful experience.

According to Dr. Shani Francis, also a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology and director of the Hair Disorders Center of Excellence at Northshore University HealthSystem in Illinois, telogen effluvium is much more common in women than men. "It is the typical 'shedding' that happens after childbirth in some women," she told us.

Telogen effluvium is a common form of hair loss in women, which can develop when the body is put through extreme stress.

She added that some triggers of the condition - such as iron deficiency and changes in medication - are more likely to occur in women. "These triggers typically affect women more than men due to menstruation, the most common cause of iron deficiency in women, and the high prevalence of birth control use - some women change birth control quite frequently," she explained.

Traction alopecia is another form of hair loss that is more likely to occur in women. It is triggered by trauma to the hair follicles, most commonly through hair styling that continuously pulls at them - such as braiding, tight ponytails and hair extensions. "This type of hair loss is primarily seen in African-American patients," said Dr. Glashofer.

Another common cause of hair loss in both men and women is alopecia areata - an autoimmune disease that affects around 2% of the US population. The condition can be inherited; around 1 in 5 people who suffer from alopecia areata have a family member with the disorder.

It occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the cells in hair follicles, leading to hair loss on the scalp and other areas of the body. In alopecia areata, hair most commonly falls out in small patches. In some cases, however, the condition can lead to complete baldness.

Specific medical conditions - such as anemia and thyroid disorders - and the use of certain medications can also lead to hair loss.

The severe emotional impact of hair loss for women

It goes without saying that hair loss - regardless of gender - can be devastating. It can dent a person's self-esteem and negatively affect their overall quality of life.

"Studies on the psychosocial impact of hair loss have found patients' self-esteem, body image and self-confidence to be negatively impacted," Dr. Francis told MNT. "Known psychosocial complications include depression, low self-esteem, altered self-image and less frequent and enjoyable social engagement."

It seems experts are in agreement, however, that women are significantly more likely to suffer emotionally as a result of hair loss.

"Hair loss in a woman is so emotionally devastating that it can trigger a wide range of social and emotional issues that can negatively impact healthy daily living and overall quality of life. I have heard of women that retreat from social situations, have diminished work performance, and even alter their healthy living - avoiding exercise, overeating, not treating other medical illnesses - due to their hair loss," said Dr. Francis.

But why do women see a greater emotional impact from hair loss than men? According to Dr. Glashofer, it is down to society's perception of beauty. "Society unjustly puts an inordinate amount of pressure on beauty and a great deal of this comes from perceptions of hair," he told us.

Dr. Francis agrees. 

"For a women, the hair is the crown, a symbol of beauty/pride. It is typically what a woman identifies with as being feminine or attractive to a mate. If this starts to diminish, it can be devastating to a woman's identity and self-esteem, especially when affected at an early age. For older women, hair loss is perceived as accelerated aging and women have to deal with a sense of loss of virility and sexual attraction to their mate as well.

"Due to societal perception differences, it is much more emotional for women, as there is limited cosmetic acceptance of a bald woman and increased societal pressure on a woman to be attractive. The negative quality of life is likely worse in women."

Drug companies 'aren't falling over themselves' to test new hair loss drugs in women

It is not only support from society that is lacking for women with hair loss; it seems the medical world has been ignoring these women's needs.

There is only one medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for women with androgenetic alopecia - a topical treatment called minoxidil that works by stimulating the hair follicles.

As well as minoxidil, men with androgenetic alopecia can be treated with another medication called finasteride. This drug works by dramatically lowering DHT levels, halting the progression of hair loss.

Due to conflicting clinical trials, finasteride has not yet been approved for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia in women. Some studies have found that finasteride can cause fetal mutations in women of childbearing age.

Such findings, Dr. Francis believes, have deterred researchers from testing hormonally-active medications in women with hair loss. Even the American Hair Loss Association admit that women are in a "catch-22" situation when it comes to hair loss treatment.

"While many drugs may work to some degree for some women, doctors are reluctant to prescribe them, and drug companies aren't exactly falling over themselves to test existing or new drugs specifically for their ability to prevent and treat female pattern baldness," they state.

Dr. Francis also notes that researchers tend to sway more toward testing hair loss medications in men because it is easier to measure their response to treatment; their hair is generally shorter so their scalp is easier to see. "Also, women have very diverse styling and grooming practices - that many are unwilling to change - which makes research harder to standardize," she added.

Recent progress in hair loss treatment for both men and women shows promise

But while it is clear that progress in hair loss treatment for women has been slow, recent research has shown some promise - making hair loss breakthroughs that could be applied to both sexes.

In August 2014, for example, a study published in the journal Nature Medicine revealed how a drug already approved by the FDA for a rare bone marrow disease restored hair growth in patients with alopecia areata.

The researchers found that ruxolitinib fully restored patients' hair within 4-5 months by preventing immune system cells from attacking the hair follicles.

"Women are not able to have the same societal support [as men] for a smooth bald head," said Dr. Francis.

"There are few tools in the arsenal for the treatment of alopecia areata that have any demonstrated efficacy. This is a major step forward in improving the standard of care for patients suffering from this devastating disease," commented Dr. David Bickers, of the Department of Dermatology at Columbia University Medical Center.

More recently, in January 2015, researchers from Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, claimed they have found a way to generate hair growth using human pluripotent stem cells.

Dr. Glashofer believes such research moves us a step closer to finding effective hair loss treatments for both men and women.

"Most recent groundbreaking hair research is attempting to define the biologic and genetic basis for certain types of hair loss. This obviously has value to both sexes," he told MNT. "Research attempting to utilize stem cells has broad implications for both hair loss treatments for men and woman and may have a role in treatment within the next decade."

While it is good news that progress is being made in terms of treatment for female hair loss, it is clear that greater awareness is needed of how the condition can affect women - particularly how it can affect them emotionally.

Dr. Francis points out that most people may not realize the extent to which these women are suffering, pointing out that many of them cover up their hair loss with wigs, scalp concealer and other cosmetic devices.

Again, this comes down to the fact that hair loss is generally more accepted in men. "Men are much more willing to shave the rest of the heads if hair loss starts to take over and this is cosmetically acceptable and in some cases quite attractive. Women are not able to have the same societal support for a smooth bald head," Dr. Francis told MNT.

It should not be the case that female hair loss is deemed unacceptable. Scottish model and TV presenter Gail Porter - who was diagnosed with alopecia in 2005, which led to complete baldness - is testament to the fact women are beautiful with or without hair. In an interview with the Scottish Express last year, Porter spoke of her challenges with hair loss while being in the public eye.

"As much as they say that people don't judge you on the way you look on TV, they do," She told the newspaper. "They [television bosses] say things like 'Would you consider wearing a wig?' "When I refuse, they say 'Oh, okay, we'll get back to you.' In other words, 'We're not having you because you have no hair.' I'm in a good place and I'm not going to wear a wig for anybody."

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