Iron, Vitamin D, B12 and Zinc: Which Deficiencies Cause Hair Loss?
Which deficiencies are linked to hair fall, which tests show them, why supplements without a test can backfire, and how long regrowth takes.
A widening parting, a thinner ponytail or handfuls of hair after a baby can each have a different cause, and in women two or three often overlap. At our Rohini clinic in North-West Delhi, a doctor checks for reversible causes such as low iron, thyroid disease or hormones, and confirms whether pattern thinning is involved, before anything is prescribed.
Rohini Clinic
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What you may be noticing
How the hair is going is the first clue to why. Most women notice one of three patterns; some have two at once.
Hair on the pillow and in the brush, from all over the scalp, often a few months after a delivery, an illness, an operation or a crash diet.
Little extra shedding, but finer regrowth. The centre parting widens towards the front and the ponytail feels smaller.
Usually tension from hairstyles, less often a scarring condition. Smooth, round bald patches point to something else again.

Female pattern hair loss
Follicles shrink over successive growth cycles and make finer, shorter hairs, while the front hairline usually stays in place. Genes play a large part, and most women with this pattern have normal hormone levels when tested.
It is progressive, more common around and after menopause, and rarely causes complete baldness. Doctors often grade it on the Ludwig scale. Read more on female pattern hair loss and the conditions that mimic it. Smooth round patches are a different condition: see alopecia areata treatment in Rohini.
Causes checked first
Hormones, iron, pregnancy and thyroid problems are common in women, often reversible, and frequently found alongside pattern thinning. Two or three can run together, so blood tests are chosen from your history rather than from a fixed panel.
Causes that affect anyone are covered under hair fall treatment in Rohini, and a flaking or itchy scalp under dandruff treatment in Rohini. Not sure where to start? The six-question hair loss self-assessment suggests a next step, and dermatologist, trichologist or salon explains who can diagnose hair fall and prescribe for it.
At the Rohini clinic
The first visit is for reaching a diagnosis. Some women leave with tests to do before treatment is decided.

Step 01
Onset, periods, pregnancies, contraception, diet, medicines, styling and family history; then the parting, hairline and brows, with trichoscopy as your baseline.

Step 02
Often a blood count, ferritin and thyroid function, with hormone tests if indicated. Then the diagnosis, the plan and the cost in writing.

Step 03
Results discussed, then your parting photographed at each visit and compared with the baseline at six and twelve months.
Treatment
The plan follows the diagnosis, and medicines are prescribed individually, so no doses are given here. None cures pattern loss: the benefit lasts only while treatment continues, and some women do not respond.
Iron replaced and rechecked, thyroid disease treated, PCOS managed, tension taken off the hairline. Where one of these drove the shedding, this alone can make a clear difference.
Shedding after pregnancy and most telogen effluvium recover by themselves. The work is ruling out anything else and checking progress, not starting long-term medicine.
The most established first treatment for pattern loss, taking months to work. Possible side effects: scalp irritation, extra facial hair and a brief rise in shedding at the start. Generally avoided in pregnancy and while breastfeeding.
Some women are offered low-dose oral minoxidil or an anti-androgen, off-label and with monitoring. Anti-androgens must not be taken if pregnancy is possible. Finasteride is not a standard treatment for women. See minoxidil and finasteride side effects.
Planning a pregnancy?
Say so at the first visit, even if it is a year or two away. It decides which of these treatments are suitable at all.

PRP and surgery
Neither is a first step for women. Both are carried out at the Rohini clinic, after a diagnosis and a period of medical treatment.
PRP or GFC may be suggested for pattern thinning where follicles are still present, alongside medicine rather than instead of it. The evidence is modest, some women do not respond and maintenance is needed. More on hair PRP and GFC at the Rohini clinic.
A transplant suits few women, because female thinning is often diffuse and can reach the donor area. It is more often an option for permanent traction loss, a high hairline or a stable scar, and grafts do not stop surrounding hair thinning. See hair transplant for women in Rohini for when it can suit, and how a hair transplant is planned. Surgery is usually considered only when:

Expectations
Plans are judged at six to twelve months against your baseline photographs. For many women, the thinning no longer getting worse is the main result. Pattern-loss treatment is long term, so a routine you can keep up matters most.
Review visits take place at the Rohini clinic; see directions to the Rohini clinic. What decides the cost is set out in the cost guidance below.
Living in Delhi
The weather rarely causes hair loss by itself, but it changes how hair and scalp behave. General points only; your own plan comes from the examination.
Tying hair up tightly against the heat pulls at the temples and hairline. Looser styles, and moving where the bun sits, take the tension off.
Sweat and damp can aggravate dandruff and fungal scalp infections, and hair tied up wet tangles and breaks more easily.
Leaves hair dry and rough, so it snaps. Short broken pieces are breakage; a full-length hair with a tiny bulb at the root has been shed.
They make the scalp dirtier and more irritable, but the evidence linking air pollution to hair loss is limited. A widening parting still needs its cause found.
Cost guidance
The cost follows the diagnosis. If low iron, a thyroid problem or a passing trigger is behind the shedding, you mainly pay for the consultation, the tests your history calls for and the medicine that condition needs. Female pattern hair loss costs more over time because treatment continues, and in-clinic courses such as PRP add sessions and maintenance.
Prices are not published; your plan and its cost come in writing after the assessment. For in-clinic courses, instalment options through third-party lenders may be available; ask at the consultation. See cost and EMI options, and PRP hair treatment cost in Rohini for what decides the price of a PRP course.
Consultation
Blood tests
Medication
In-clinic courses
They apply wherever you are seen, including here.
Who you will see
Treatment at the Rohini clinic is carried out by registered medical practitioners. Every doctor at DenceSpot is listed below with their qualifications.
Dr. Nyra
MBBS, MD (Dermatology)
Further reading
Plain-language articles on hair loss and its treatment. Each article shows its own author and review details.
Which deficiencies are linked to hair fall, which tests show them, why supplements without a test can backfire, and how long regrowth takes.
How an underactive or overactive thyroid affects hair, the tests that show it, and what to expect once thyroid levels are treated.
Why shedding often starts a few months after childbirth, how long it usually lasts, treatment questions while breastfeeding, and when to get it checked.
Visit the clinic
Assessments, treatment and review visits for women's hair loss take place at our Rohini clinic in North-West Delhi, close to the Outer Ring Road.
Our clinic
Rohini, Delhi
Every treatment below is carried out at the Rohini clinic, and each starts with an examination and a written plan. See the Rohini clinic page for directions and hours.
Cost guides for the Rohini clinic: Hair transplant cost in Rohini · PRP treatment cost in Rohini · Beard transplant cost in Rohini.
Rohini, Delhi
Book an assessment at the Rohini clinic. A doctor takes your history, examines your scalp, arranges only the tests your case needs and gives you a written plan, including when waiting is the right answer.
