Androgenetic Alopecia (male pattern baldness)
Androgenetic Alopecia is a genetic condition affecting both male and female, causing progressive baldness in men and progressive thinning of hair in women. Androgenetic Alopecia is commonly known as male pattern baldness in men.
Incidence of Androgenetic Alopecia varies from population to population
based on genetic background. Environmental factors do not seem to affect
this type of baldness greatly. One large scale study of Androgenetic Alopecia in
Australia showed the prevalence of mid-frontal hair loss increases with
age and affects 57% of women and 73.5% of men aged 80 and over. According
to Medem Medical Library's website, male pattern baldness affects roughly
40 million men in the United States. Approximately 25 percent of men begin
balding by age 30; two-thirds begin balding by age 60.Male pattern Androgenetic Alopecia is characterized by hair receding from the lateral sides of the forehead, known as "receding hairline". Receding hairlines are usually seen in males above the ages of 25 but can be seen as early as mid-teens. An additional bald patch may develop on top (vertex). The trigger for male pattern baldness is DHT, a powerful sex hormone, body, and facial hair growth promoter that can adversely affect the prostate as well as the hair located on the head. The mechanism by which DHT accomplishes this is not yet understood. In genetically-prone scalps, DHT initiates a process of follicular miniaturization. Through the process of follicular miniaturization, hair shaft width is progressively decreased until scalp hair resembles fragile vellus hair or "peach fuzz" or else becomes non-existent. Male pattern baldness is classified on the Hamilton-Norwood scale I-VII.
The patterns of Androgenetic Alopecia hair loss in women are not as easily recognisable as those in men but usually involve a diffuse thinning over the scalp often with more noticeable thinning either toward the front or back of the scalp. Unlike hair loss in men, female hair loss caused by Androgenetic Alopecia commonly begins at any age through 50 or later.
Genes Involved
Research indicates that susceptibility to premature male pattern baldness is largely linked to the X chromosome. Other genes, that aren’t sex linked, are also involved. The maternal line is of vital importance in the inheritance of male pattern baldness. In February 2008 researchers at the University of Bonn announced they have found the genetic basis of two distinct forms of inherited hair loss, opening a broad path to treatments for baldness. They found that a gene, P2RY5, causes a rare, inherited form of hair loss called Hypotrichosis simplex. It is the first receptor in humans known to play a role in hair growth. The fact that any receptor plays a specific role in hair growth was previously unknown to scientists and with this new knowledge a focus on finding more of these genes may be able to lead to therapies for very different types of hair loss.Psychological Effects
The psychological effects for individuals experiencing Androgenetic Alopecia vary widely. Some people adapt to the change comfortably, while others have severe problems relating to anxiety, depression, social phobia, and in some cases, identity change. Psychological problems due to baldness, if present, are typically most severe at the onset of symptoms.Some men with male pattern baldness may feel proud of their baldness, feeling a kindred relationship with famous charismatic bald men, much of whose perceived masculinity and handsomeness derives from their most obvious distinguishing feature. Male pattern baldness has, in recent years, in any case become less of a (supposed) liability due to an increasing fashionable prevalence of very short, or even completely shaven, hair among men, at least in western countries.
Women are more likely than men to suffer psychologically painful effects due to hair loss. Hair loss in men is considered "normal" whereas female hair loss is not widely regarded as "normal" even though it occurs naturally in both sexes. Women are highly sensitive to a social expectation that "a woman’s hair is her crowning glory" and women have less of a support system for hair loss than is available to men.