Ferritin and Skin: What Women Should Know About Iron Levels

What is ferritin?

Ferritin is a protein that stores iron and releases it when your body needs it. To assess whether your body’s iron stores are low, you can do a blood test that can measure ferritin levels. Also note, you can have low ferritin without having anaemia, making it possible to be iron deficient before your haemoglobin levels fall.

Women are particularly vulnerable to low iron levels because of blood loss during menstruation, pregnancy and insufficient dietary iron. Heavy periods are a significant cause of low iron.

What’s the link between ferritin and the skin?

Iron helps with carrying oxygen and many essential processes in the body. When iron levels run low, people might notice changes in the skin, hair and nails. Iron deficiency can show up as pale skin and even dry or rough skin. 

The hair is often where it becomes particularly noticeable. Hair loss can occur, but also keep in mind there may be other causes like hair thinning in women, hormonal changes, thyroid problems, stress and female-pattern hair loss.

This means low ferritin shouldn’t automatically be blamed for every change in your complexion or…

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Read Full Article by Shaneen Noble at www.womanandhomemagazine.co.za
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