Causes of Hair Loss in Men

Most men start to see hair thinning in their early 30s or 40s, unfortunately some men experience hair loss/baldness at the onset of adulthood. MPB is caused by the effects of hormones, DHT on genetically susceptible scalp and hair follicles.

DHT is an enzyme that occurs naturally in the body known as 5-alpha reductase. This enzyme converts the hormone testosterone into another hormone known as Dihydrotestosterone. DHT causes male hair loss by shortening the growth, or Anagen phase of the cycle, causing miniaturization (decreased size) of the follicles, and producing progressively shorter, finer hairs. Eventually these follicles totally disappear. The sensitivity is mainly present in hair follicles that reside in the front, top, and crown of the scalp, rather than the back and sides producing a characteristic and identifiable pattern.

By far the most common cause of hair loss in men is Androgenetic Alopecia (AGA), also referred to as "male pattern baldness" (MPB). Male Pattern Baldness commonly known as Androgenetic Alopecia is one of the most common hair loss problems suffered by many men today.

Androgenetic hair loss is caused by three factors... age, genes, and inherited. This form of hair loss cannot occur without the presence of specific inherited genes. These genes can be passed on by either parent, each one of us will inherit one copy of a particular gene from our parents. What this means is you will inherit one copy of the gene that will determine whether you have inherited hair loss from your father and one copy from your mother. What does this mean?

Take for example that your father has one copy bad version of the gene and your mother does not. This means that the chances of you experiencing hair loss is 50/50 Another example that must be acknowledged is that if both parents have the hair loss problem and both of your parents each have one copy of the hair loss gene. The chance that you inherit the bad version from either your father or mother by statistics increases to 75%, note: you merely need just one copy to get the inherited hair loss problem. The factors in this scenario continue, if just one of your parents posses both copies of the bad version of the gene, the chances of you inheriting hair loss escalates to 100% So how do we determine the possibilities whether your parents have one copy each of the bad version of the gene. Through detailed genetic analysis, and taking into account previous generations, will uncover your answers.