Genetic Hair Loss/DHT

The Golden Questions

'If my uncle has hair loss, will I have it too?'
Well, the answer would be yes and no.


'What if my father and my uncle both have Male Pattern Baldness?'
Well then, it would still be yes and no.


'How about most males in my family have baldness?'
There is still a chance that you may avoid it!


That is the beauty of genetics, there is no way to actually know whether you will inherit that defective gene or not. The genes can stay dormant and skip a few generations before it hits you.


The field of genetics itself is a very broad and sophisticated field where there is still a lot to learn. In fact, scientists managed to map the human genome only very recently.


There are still many questions regarding genetics and hair loss that scientists have yet to answer, but it's very clear that your genes play a crucial role in deciding whether you will be bald or not when the time comes.

 

The Workings of Our Genes

 

Genes are our life blueprint. Imagine them as the engineers of our body. They tell our body how it is built.


When you are born, you get 2 copies each of your genes from your mother and father.


In genetics,

• you get both copies of your parents’ characteristics (i.e. hair colour)

 

• if your father's genes are dominant, you will end up with your father's hair colour.

 

• your father gets his from his parents too. So if one of your father genes is dominant, you might end up with your father's side of the family’s hair colour too.

 

So when the genes are passed down, you get a combination of genes that are good and bad acquired through your family tree. It’s just a matter of which genes will be dominant. It is the same with the genes for your hair.

 

 

Confused? Look at the diagram below:

The top part of the diagram show X and O are both genes’ traits. If your paternal grandparents both have genes X and O, the will pass them down to your father. The same goes for your mother's parents. Then both your parents will pass these genetic copies on to you. You will have an average chance to get the X gene to be the dominant gene.


In the lower diagram, if your father's parents both have the X genes, your father will get both the X genes. If your mother's parents have both an X and an O, your mother will have both of the gene copies, and of course she passes this on to you. So your chances of getting the X gene is higher but that does not mean you will surely get it.

 

It's all about luck!

 

 

DHT? Die Hard Testosterone?

If you are noticing that your hair has been thinning progressively, then it's highly likely that DHT is the primary cause of your condition. Male Pattern Baldness or Androgenetic Alopecia is a progressive hair loss condition in which your hair line reclines from the top and possibly also from the front of your head.


For many centuries, there had been a lot of theories about the balding condition among men but it was not until the late 20th century that scientists finally declared that this male hormone is responsible for stripping the crown of a few too many good men.

The Male Hormone Testosterone

It all begins with the single male hormone testosterone, a principal male sex hormone and an anabolic steroid that is responsible for regulating health and well-being. The main responsibilities of this hormone are to:

• increase libido (sex drive)
• increase energy
• increase production of red blood cells.

Testosterone is also present in females but to a much lesser degree. Research shows that an average adult man has about forty to sixty times the amount of testosterone compared to that of an adult woman, a very big contrast indeed. Although women have far lesser amounts of this hormone, they are more much sensitive to it than men.

What is it?

DHT stands for Dihydrotestosterone (Die-hi-dro-tes-tos-ter-ron) an active metabolite and also a by-product of the male sex hormone testosterone. Metabolites are compounds that are crucial for normal growth, physical development and reproduction.

 

This compound is also known as an androgenic hormone, its main functions being to control and boost the development of your male characteristics. Besides that, DHT is also important to suppress the effects of the female's hormone estrogen found also in men.

 

Your prostate glands, testes, hair follicles and andrenal glands are responsible for converting the male hormone testosterone into DHT.They release an enzyme known as 5 alpha reductase which binds with this male hormone.
Some of the common physical effects of this androgen are:

• acne
• male voice
• male masculinity
• nose hairs
• male puberty
• beards and body hair.

In simpler words, this particular hormone provides you with the male characteristics and manliness a man should have.

 

How can it cause male pattern baldness?

The most important question of all, the problem with this powerful hormone and great ally for men is that it also happens to have a dark side: it is also the primary cause of Male Pattern Baldness. When the converted hormone in the blood streams reaches your scalp it:

• binds with the androgen receptors on your hair follicle
• blocks and interrupts with the normal growth of the hair follicle
• prevents essential nutrients and oxygen that fuels your follicle.

Over time your hair follicles will produce finer and finer hair though each hair growth cycle. The growing phase (Anagen) of your hair will also be shortened until it loses the ability to grow terminal hairs. See picture below to see the miniaturization process.

 

If this process continues, you will see the affected hairs getting thinner and more frail and soon these 'vellus hairs' will be fine enough that you will not even be able to notice them.


As this goes on, the hairs will fall out and the hair follicles will gradually shut down and when it does, the hair has gone forever.


Apollo Hair can help to slow and stop this from continuing and put you on a path for regrowth.

 

 

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