Monday, March 7, 2011

Understanding male pattern hair loss or androgenetic alopecia

Androgenetic alopecia is a more common cause of hair loss in both, men and women. It is seen more in men than women and hence it is also known as male pattern hair loss. Hair loss can be temporary or permanent. It depends on the factors that cause the hair to fall out. This is frustrating as you cannot stop the hair loss and the condition becomes worse. Androgenetic alopecia starts slow and gradually progresses to such an extent that the total appearance of the sufferer changes. It is not a just hair loss but along with it you loses your confidence of being social. Normally we tend to lose around 100 hair strands per day which get replaced with the new one or re growth takes place. Unfortunately in male pattern hair loss, it doesn’t happen and the person starts to form bald spot on head. Initially this balding spot can be hidden due to density of scalp hair but eventually over a period of time bald spot appears due to thinning hair.


Causes of male pattern hair loss

Initially it was not possible to treat androgenetic alopecia because of lack of medicines and treatment options. Nowadays due to technology and research, it is possible to reduce the hair loss in men. One should know the causes very well to get the right kind of hair loss treatment. Your doctor will decide the treatment on the basis of factors that has caused this problem. Following are that factors that are responsible for thinning hair in men known as male pattern hair loss.
• Androgenetic hormone – It is believe that testosterone is involved in hair loss in men. As there is no exact cause is still known behind thinning hair in men. Testosterone is believed to get converted into dihydrotestosterone or DHT. This process happens all over the body but its high concentration in the scalp causes hair to fall out. Ultimately this results in hair loss and as it happens due to androgenetic hormones, it is known as androgenetic alopecia. DHT is the active form of testosterone. It stimulates the mechanism which stops hair growth.
• Heredity – Apart from DHT, the other factor that plays an important role in male pattern hair loss is the genetic factor or heredity. According to a theory, there is a set of genes present in human which is makes the hair follicles more sensitive towards DHT. It means the person whose DHT level has increase is more prone to hair loss.
• Thyroid problems – hair loss can also occur due o underlying diseases like thyroid problems. These problems occur due hormonal imbalance because of the malfunctioning of thyroid gland. Hypothyroidism is one of the major factors that cause thinning hair in men.

Treatment of male pattern hair loss

Like I mentioned above, the effective hair loss treatment is depend on the root cause. Once you get to know the root cause, it is easy to find the hair loss treatment. The treatment includes medicines that can inhibit or block the conversion of testosterone into DHT which is the major cause of androgenetic alopecia. Generic Propecia is capable of blocking this conversion. It is also use to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia. But in majority of the cases it is useful to treat androgenetic alopecia. Chemically Generic Propecia is made up of Finasteride. It is 4-alpha-reductase class of drug. It blocks the formation of DHT and thus prevents loss of hair. This hair loss treatment with Generic Propecia destroys the root cause and thus widely used to treat male pattern hair loss.

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