What Is Inherited Pattern Baldness?
Inherited Pattern Baldness refers to hair loss that is caused by your genes. Genetic factors can determine the extent and timing of your baldness, and can be determined by either parent. However, inherited pattern baldness is more common among men, as women have lower levels of androgen, which causes baldness.
Women do not necessarily become bald like men. Rather, they experience a pronounced thinning of hair. This is called female-pattern baldness.
Normally, your genes dictate every aspect of your hair including its growth, quality, color, extent of baldness, and the rate of hair loss. Hair loss usually starts just after puberty and is found mostly at the temples and crown. Hair in these locations may be finer and weaker and does not seem to grow as fast as at other areas of the head.
Inherited Pattern Baldness does not necessarily follow your maternal or paternal lineage. It could be due to either side. As it is associated with presence of testosterone, such baldness is almost absent in males, who do not produce any testosterone due to certain inborn genetic factors. This type of baldness occurs mostly on your scalp and in patches. In rare instances, the rate of baldness increases due to additional factors like illness, medication, and other disorders.
Average hair loss each day is normally one hundred hairs. Every single hair on your head has a life span of 4.5 years. Thereafter it falls off and a new one surfaces in its place within six months. During its lifetime, each strand grows by half an inch every month. Baldness occurs due to your body's incapability to produce new hairs and is not due to any excessive hair loss.
Normally, the most common remedy for male pattern baldness is Rogaine, Propecia, and an external application of minoxidil on your scalp. You can also undergo a procedure called hair grafting, which is a painful but permanent solution. Otherwise, you can undergo hair transplantation in earlier stages of baldness. In this procedure, hair shafts from areas where you have more hair are cut and fixed into bald areas to promote growth there.
By Marquetta Breslin
Sep 22, 2005, 13:17
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