Pattern baldness
Thick lustrous hair are the envy of all – particularly young people who suffer from premature hair loss. It is quite normal for even young adults to lose 100 strands of scalp hair daily; but this is because, in the normal course, new hair keep appearing to replace them. This, however, does not happen in pattern baldness, which results in bald areas showing up on the scalp. And this continues till the person is totally bald. The only solution then is medical hair restoration through hair transplantation.
Causes of pattern baldness
Most people who lose scalp hair are genetically predisposed to pattern baldness. Such people have a male hormone in their hair follicles, called testosterone, that gets converted into dihydrotestosterone (DHT) by an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase.
The effect of DHT on the hormone receptor in the hair follicle is to slow down hair production, thus resulting in weak hair. When that happens hair growth can cease completely. Baldness follows a certain set pattern. It’s usually the temples or the crown of the head that first start balding. Then it spreads to the other areas.
Stress is another cause of baldness. People who lead stressful professional or personal lives, and do not exercise enough, are more prone to baldness than those who are carefree.
Why men are the biggest sufferers
To find out whether men are more likely to suffer from pattern baldness than women you don’t need to consult an expert. Just look around you and you’ll have the answer. Yet why does this happen? The reason is biological. Women’s bodies to not produce the male hormone testosterone that causes male pattern baldness.
The production of testosterone in the male body continues throughout a person’s lifetime. A new supply of this hormone produced by the testicles is always on the way. To make space for these new supplies the older lot gets converted into di-hydro-testosterone (DHT). As the body ejects the DHT, a waste material, the hair follicles in the scalp get clogged and become incapable of holding on to the hair. This is what causes baldness.
People in the 20-45 age group are particularly vulnerable to male pattern baldness. To repeat, both hormonal and lifestyle factors can be the cause of male pattern baldness. Of all the methods of medical hair restoration it is hair transplantation that such people need to go in for.
