Rogers Medical Group
Causes of hair loss

Men	(Click here for details about Women's Hair Loss)

Androgenetic Hair Loss (male pattern hair loss, MPB)
As the name suggests, Androgenetic ( or androgenic) hair loss is caused by genetic sensitivity to androgens. If you inherit the genes, from either side of your family, then you will lose some of your hair. By age 50, half of all men are suffering from it. The only question is how much. Typical male pattern hair loss can be seen in the diagrams. It’s progressive until stage 7 when it seems to stop. The speed of loss varies from person to person, and it may stop well before reaching stage 7. Unfortunately, it’s hard to predict how much loss will occur, especially if you are still young. Knowing what happened to your male relatives on both sides of the family can help, but it’s not an exact science.
When does it start?

Kick-starting the hair loss gene calls for large amounts of testosterone. Cue puberty. Some men start losing their hair very early on, even in their teens. In others, it’s a much slower process. The degree and speed of hair loss is determined by your genetic sensitivity. Technically speaking, it isn’t testosterone itself that causes hair loss, but a breakdown testosterone by-product called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). This is produced by an enzyme 5 Alpha dihydrogenase. This enzyme is made in two forms by the body: type 1 and type 2. Finasteride (Propecia) only works on type 1, which is why it doesn’t work for everybody. The new drug Dutasteride (Avodart) works on both types, but has not yet been prescribed for as long as Propecia has.

Exceptions
There are some diseases that cause hair loss that is not treatable using hair restoration techniques. These include alopecia areata. On the other hand, there are plenty of non-genetic or illness-related conditions that can be treated by hair transplantation, including:

• Scarring
• Eyebrows
• Trichillomania
• Traction Alopecia
• Burns
• Post facelift scars
• Post radiation therapy hair loss.

Eyebrow hair transplants can be very successful in cases where hair has been lost due to excessive plucking, trauma or congenital lack of eyebrows. The technique is exactly the same as scalp hair transplants but the hair is placed in the eyebrows, either thickening up a sparse area or totally recreating the eyebrow line. Initially, the hair does tend to be faster growing and curlier, so needs training and trimming but it does settle down to blend very well with existing eyebrow hair (which tends to be slower growing and straighter).

These techniques can also be used for beards, mustaches, sideburns and even eyelashes.

Post face lift scars or alopecia can occur when the skin in front of the ear i.e. sideburn is removed to tighten up the face over the cheek and jaw. Lack of hair here can look “wrong” or the surgeon may place the scar around the ear line but this scar can be visible if there is hair missing from the sideburns. Again, standard hair transplant techniques are used to re implant hair.

Tricillomania is similar to excessive plucking of eyebrows. Obsessive pulling or twisting of hair damages the hair root until it no longer grows properly. Once the patient has stopped the Obsessive Compulsive behaviour ( OCD ), then the damaged hair can be replaced by hair surgery.

Traction Alopecia is again basically caused by excessive pulling on the hair roots, this time by over tight hair styles. This can affect men or women with pony tails, dreadlocks or those who wear turbans.

Burns obviously damage the skin but it is the deep burns that cause hair loss. Because hair roots don’t regenerate in scarred or burnt skin, hair is permanently lost. However, hair transplants can still survive in reasonably healthy scarred tissue so this can still help such patients.

Post Radiation Therapy Hair Loss This can be due to an actual burn or more usually, it is because fast growing cells such as hair roots, are more susceptible to radiotherapy damage. The surrounding skin can be left still fairly healthy but the hair has been killed. This is not a problem on the body but in hairy areas such as the scalp, it is obvious when a patch is missing. Fortunately, hair transplanting is usually successful, the only problem is if there is a large area to cover and some of the donor area has also been damaged.

To find out about the causes of women's hair loss please click here

Find out more...
For more details on how we can help you and all aspects of Rogers Medical
Get in touch