Very low or high levels of this hormone is known to result in hair loss. But is it testosterone that causes the hair loss or is it something else? Let us understand the real reasons and ways to treat testosterone hair loss.
A lot of researchers concluded that testosterone in high levels can result in hair loss due to a specific hormone that it produces. Testosterone exists in the following forms in the body. This form is not bound to any proteins in your body. Free testosterone is a hormone that is connected to testosterone receptors and is absorbed by cells to carry out some functions.
Dihydrotestosterone is derived from testosterone. It is made by an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase and DHEA more common in women 1.
This hormone is found in the skin, hair and prostate. It binds itself to follicles that cause them to become smaller in size, resulting in the thinning of your hair and eventually losing these strands 2. Testosterone and DHT mainly contribute to the development of secondary sexual characteristics in men. These include:. Hair on your body grows through follicles. Follicles are tiny pores beneath your skin that contain a hair strand. Your strands have a growth cycle of years, after which they reach a resting phase and fall out.
High levels of androgens in the body produce a hormone called Dihydrotestosterone DHT. DHT binds to certain proteins in the body, which in turn reduces the size of your hair follicles. This may result in thinning of the hair and may even delay the growth of new hair strands. Both low and high levels of testosterone can result in hair loss.
We need to understand that those with low testosterone levels may in fact have the same amount of DHT that contributes to hair loss. It has been shown that men with male pattern baldness have low testosterone levels with average DHT levels in their body. Some people have the same amount of DHT as others, but their hair follicles are genetically programmed to be more sensitive to DHT. This makes their follicles more susceptible to reducing in size. Androgenetic alopecia in men and women is linked to fluctuating testosterone levels and genetics.
Dihydrotestosterone DHT is made from testosterone by an enzyme. DHT is five times more potent than testosterone. DHT is primarily used by the body in the prostate, skin, and hair follicles. Male pattern baldness MPB has a distinctive shape. The front hairline recedes, especially at the sides, forming an M shape. This is frontal baldness. The crown of the head, also known as the vertex, becomes bald as well. MPB can even extend to chest hair, which can thin as you age.
Oddly enough, hair in different locations on the body can react differently to hormonal changes. For instance, facial hair growth can improve while other areas become bald. Dihydrotestosterone DHT is made from testosterone by an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. It can also be made from DHEA, a hormone more common in women.
DHT is found in skin, hair follicles, and the prostate. DHT also acts in the prostate. With too much DHT, a man can develop benign prostate hypertrophy , also known as an enlarged prostate. There is some evidence of a link between baldness and prostate cancer and other diseases.
Harvard Medical School reports that men with vertex baldness have 1. The risk of coronary artery disease is also more than 23 percent higher in men with vertex bald spots. Investigations are ongoing as to whether there is a link between DHT levels and metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and other health conditions.
That sensitivity is determined by genetics. If your receptors are particularly sensitive, they are more easily triggered by even small amounts of DHT, and hair loss occurs more easily as a result. Other genes may also play a part. Eventually the follicle becomes dormant and no more hair is produced. This starts on the top of the scalp and then moves down over the head in the characteristic shape of male pattern baldness.
Bald men are genetically more predisposed to be more sensitive to dihydrotestosterone, but the follicles on the chin are unaffected by the hormone, which is why beards continue to grow. As theories about the influence of testosterone have developed, so have various avenues of treatment.
In the s there were curious attempts to treat baldness by adding more testosterone directly to the scalp. Still most men dropped out of the study before the ten months were up. A treatment called finasteride works on this principle, but it is expensive and needs to be used continuously or hair loss begins again.
Meanwhile, scientists are still trying to understand the mechanism by which the hair stops growing. This study raises hopes that one day hair could be grown on bald parts of the heads, if scientists can find a way of triggering growth or blocking whatever is preventing it, and researchers are currently investigating particular proteins that might provide that trigger.
Baldness seems to involve more myths than many other conditions, possibly because its distribution feels so arbitrary that we look for explanations. They passed on the genes after all.
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