Male pattern baldness, also sometimes known as, androgenic
alopecia, is hair loss starting from the lateral side of forehead or hair
thinning at the crown. The hair fall can take place at both the crown as well as
the forehead. When these both meet so it leaves a rather horse-shoe shaped ring
of hair left on the back of the head. Both genetic and environmental factors
play a role in the male pattern baldness.
The most import factor of pattern baldness in males is
dihydrotestosterone. It is associated with the male sex hormones called
androgens which have many functions including that of regulating hair growth.
In human scalps, there are small holes called follicle out of which hair grow.
After every three years, a new hair grows out of these follicles and then it
falls off and a new one replaces it. In male pattern baldness, these follicles start
becoming small so each new hair is thinner than the previous one and it falls
off before even growing for three years.
In the end, these follicles become so small that the hair is
not even able to grow out of it and this result in baldness. It can spread from
within weeks to years and can cause baldness all over the scalp.
However, it is a belief that the hair follicles are a
casualty of the battles between the human innovations and human physiology. The
very things that were supposed to enhance our lives are dangerous for our
health and the products that are being used by the people are the major factors
that these hair follicles are shrinking.
Although, another reason can be heredity which is usually
pretty harmless but can result from severe causes such as some types of
cancers, medicines and other types of diseases. This can cause hair loss at a
very high rate amongst men.
On the other hand, those men whose fathers have hair loss
have a 2.5 times more chance of possessing pattern baldness. The hair growth of
the father is much more important than that of the maternal line. And this
baldness begins as early as puberty.
These factors play a major role in the increasing baldness
patterns in men and once the baldness begins it is impossible to stop it. However,
many medicines have proved to be quite effective in slowing the balding process
and the hair transplant surgery does wonders in providing men with new hair.