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Alopecia or hair loss can usually be attributed to several important factors. Androgenic Alopecia (patterned baldness) represents a type of inherited alopecia, which is the kind of baldness that passes through generations of families. This is by far the most common cause of hair loss, hence the term "common baldness." The degree of gradual hair loss can vary from partial to a more extended involvement over the frontal hairline from the forehead towards the center and crown involving the entire scalp in men (male-pattern baldness). Without any intervention, hair loss is progressive and eventually irreversible.
It is estimated that about 30 to 40 percent of adults, approximately 60 million men are affected by this condition in the United States. By the age of 30, about 25% of all men begin to bald, and about two-thirds of these are either bald or have a pattern by the age of 60. Under normal physiologic conditions, humans lose an average of 50 to 100 hairs per day out of the estimated 100,000 hairs typically on the scalp. This normal process is known as Telogen Effluvium, or resting phase hair shedding. This phenomenon rarely progresses to baldness, since the amount of resulting hair loss does not surpass the amount of newly regenerated hair. With Androgenic Alopecia, however, the amount of hair loss could be four to five times higher than normal.
Although the exact mechanism still remains unclear, several studies have strongly implicated heredity and the natural compound Dihydrotestosterone, more commonly known as DHT and the active hormonal derivative of Testosterone, as a main culprit in Androgenic Alopecia. The cause of hair loss seems to stem from an increased accumulation of DHT bound to androgenic receptors within the hair follicles (hair root), and the subsequent destruction of the follicle coupled with the body's inability to compensate by producing new hair. Having inherited the genetically programmed factors for baldness appears to increase the sensitivity and vulnerability of the scalp's androgenic receptors to the deleterious effects of DHT. This compound appears to interrupt the normal physiologic environment and function of the hair cell follicles within the scalp resulting in the alteration of vital metabolic processes needed for healthy hair growth. The ultimate outcome begins with partial destruction followed by the progressive and complete obliteration of hair follicles. The increased dropout in the number of functional hair cells, results in baldness.
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