Male Pattern Hair Loss and It’s Relationship With Testosterone Levels

added 7th April 2017

Male pattern hair loss is an inherited condition that leads to a genetic sensitivity to the testosterone by-product, dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT clusters around the hair follicles located around the top of the scalp and hairline in those affected, causing thinning hair, hair loss and baldness over time.

 

One factor in the biology of androgenetic alopecia that hair loss researchers still cannot seem to agree on is its relationship with high testosterone levels.

 

Some argue that higher testosterone levels logically means there will be more DHT produced. If there is more DHT, the theory goes, there will be more – or accelerated – male hair loss.

 

A newly released study has backed the group of medical professionals who believe that it is not how much DHT is present in the bloodstream, but rather how sensitive an individual is to this hormone that determines his rate of hair fall.

 

The investigation into whether sex hormones affect androgenetic alopecia in men has been published on the respected JAMA Dermatology journal website. Researchers in Germany probed the effects of testosterone and oestrogen on hair growth and their findings led them to report that there was no link between the two.

 

What is certain, however, is that DHT is the main culprit in developing genetic hair loss. Men who want to regrow thinning hair or prevent baldness have two clinically approved pharmaceutical treatment options open to them. Finasteride is a once daily tablet that acts as a DHT blocker and is taken in a 1mg dose each time. Though it can be used separately, minoxidil solutions are often used alongside finasteride as part of a two-pronged attack. The complementary action of the minoxidil, with its vasodialating, hair growth stimulating properties, makes it a solid companion for the finasteride which prevents hair loss by stopping the DHT from reaching the hair follicles.