All about hair loss
There are many different conditions that can cause hair loss, such as vitamin B deficiency or thyroid issues. If your hair loss were a symptom of a medical condition you would most likely have other symptoms like fatigue. But just to be sure it is recommended that you go to your doctor for a check up and some blood work to rule out other illnesses.
With that said, if you are losing your hair, the most likely diagnosis is Male Pattern Hair Loss or Androgenetic Alopecia. Male Pattern Hair Loss accounts for about 95% of hair loss in men. This condition is the gradual miniaturization of your hair follicles and the shortening of the hair growth phase. This condition continues to progress until the hair follicle becomes dormant. It can start anytime, but is usually seen in people in their late twenties to early thirties.
Hair grows in phases. Each phase varies in elapsed time. Hair has a growth phase called anagen, which is when the hair is constantly growing. Then you have the transitional phase called catagen, which is when the hair stops growing and transitions to the last phase. The last phase is the resting phase called telogen, which is when the hair stops growing and falls out. Under normal conditions, after the hair is pushed out the cycle starts over, but when someone is suffering with Male Pattern Hair Loss the grow phase becomes less and less and the resting phase becomes longer until there is no growth phase, rather the hair follicle becomes dormant.
Male Pattern Hair Loss tends to follow a similar pattern of recession in the front along with balding in the back of the head. Because of the similarity of the pattern in which the hair is lost a scale was developed to classify the pattern. This scale is called the Norwood Hamilton Classification System, which is below. Take a look at the diagram and see where you are. Please note that not everyone goes completely bald, but everyone falls somewhere within the classification system. And the sooner you catch your hair loss the sooner you can stop it from getting worse.
So what exactly causes Male Pattern Hair Loss? It is widely believed that Male Pattern Hair Loss is caused by substances that naturally occur in your body that circulate throughout your body. The name of the substance that causes the hair follicle to shrink and lie dormant is called dihydrotestosterone or DHT. This substance is made by testosterone being converted, via an enzyme called 5a-reductase, into DHT.
There are two types of the 5a-reductase enzyme, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 2 is responsible for two-thirds of the circulating DHT in the body and Type 1 is responsible for one-third. Type 1 is found in the sebaceous glands of the skin including the scalp. Type 2 is the enzyme that is found in the hair follicles. In men with Male Pattern Hair Loss, the scalp contains miniaturized hair follicles and increased amounts of DHT as compared to a male with lots of hair. In addition, it has been shown that people with a 5a-reducatase deficiency don't have Male Pattern Hair Loss.
So one would believe that if you could stop the DHT you could stop the hair loss. Two drug companies realized that when working on a medicine for an enlarged prostate because people were regrowing hair while on the prostate medicine. Another company realized they had something when people were regrowing hair while on a blood pressure medicine and another company realized different natural substances could stop hair loss. And still yet another company realized a medical laser device could actually stop hair loss. These groundbreaking findings led to clinical trials of multiple treatments for use for Male Pattern Hair Loss.
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