Two Possible Reasons Why DHT Causes Hair Loss
Have you ever fixed up your hair and found a bunch of hair strands between the teeth of your comb? How about the pile of hair that gathered on the drain after every shower? Or the increasing number of hair strands you find on your pillow every morning? These are just a few hair loss problems a man have to come up against on a daily basis.
Male pattern baldness is a genetic type of hair loss that can affect men at any age.
It is also called androgenetic alopecia.
This condition occurs because of genetic sensitivity to the male hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
DHT is an active metabolite of testosterone.
It forms when testosterone interacts with the enzyme 5 alpha reductase.
This conversion occurs on specials cells in the testes and skin.
DHT is much more potent than testosterone and has a stronger affinity to androgen receptors in the body; this is the reason why DHT is a vital hormone in the male sexuality.
There are two theories on how DHT can cause baldness.
The first theory implies that DHT can cause the scalp to thicken or harden.
This scalp hardening shrinks the bloods vessels depriving the hair follicles of vital nutrients.
Over time, the follicles fail to produce terminal hair and end up generating only very thin, transparent hair called peach or fuzz hair.
There are oppositions about this theory and several doctors claim that hair loss isn't due to shrinking of blood vessels or thickening of the scalp.
If it were true that blood circulation is compromised on the scalp and hair can no longer grow there, this would be a contradictory since newly implanted hair follicles can survive on the scalp after transplant.
Another theory suggests that DHT directly affects the follicles and the follicles themselves become very sensitive to DHT.
The big question is, when will the follicles become sensitive? What are the triggering factors? The timing on which the hair follicles become sensitive to DHT still remains a mystery.
It is amazing to find patients with normal to low levels of DHT on their system suffering from hair loss where as other patients with high levels of DHT have a head full of hair.
This strongly suggest that the amount of DHT is not a contributing factor to hair loss but the sensitivity of the hair follicles themselves to DHT is the cause of male pattern hair loss.
Male pattern baldness is a genetic type of hair loss that can affect men at any age.
It is also called androgenetic alopecia.
This condition occurs because of genetic sensitivity to the male hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
DHT is an active metabolite of testosterone.
It forms when testosterone interacts with the enzyme 5 alpha reductase.
This conversion occurs on specials cells in the testes and skin.
DHT is much more potent than testosterone and has a stronger affinity to androgen receptors in the body; this is the reason why DHT is a vital hormone in the male sexuality.
There are two theories on how DHT can cause baldness.
The first theory implies that DHT can cause the scalp to thicken or harden.
This scalp hardening shrinks the bloods vessels depriving the hair follicles of vital nutrients.
Over time, the follicles fail to produce terminal hair and end up generating only very thin, transparent hair called peach or fuzz hair.
There are oppositions about this theory and several doctors claim that hair loss isn't due to shrinking of blood vessels or thickening of the scalp.
If it were true that blood circulation is compromised on the scalp and hair can no longer grow there, this would be a contradictory since newly implanted hair follicles can survive on the scalp after transplant.
Another theory suggests that DHT directly affects the follicles and the follicles themselves become very sensitive to DHT.
The big question is, when will the follicles become sensitive? What are the triggering factors? The timing on which the hair follicles become sensitive to DHT still remains a mystery.
It is amazing to find patients with normal to low levels of DHT on their system suffering from hair loss where as other patients with high levels of DHT have a head full of hair.
This strongly suggest that the amount of DHT is not a contributing factor to hair loss but the sensitivity of the hair follicles themselves to DHT is the cause of male pattern hair loss.
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