Hair loss is more than a cosmetic issue. There is often an underlying health issue involved. Diseases like alopecia, which causes hair loss, runs in families. Male pattern baldness also is heritable. A new study has found some genetic clues that help explain more about male pattern baldness.
When hair loss occurs, there is often a medical reason behind it. For example, alopecia is a disease that can cause a person to lose small patches of hair on his or head or body. Or, it may cause a person to completely lose all body hair. Some studies have suggested that a lack of iron in a person’s diet can be the cause for hair loss. It’s not unheard of for a woman to experience changes in how her hair grows as a result of pregnancy.
Most people have at least heard of male pattern baldness. It is also called androgenetic alopecia (AGA). It tends to affect more men then women, but it is something that women can also experience. It has been known for quite some time that male pattern baldness runs in families. Men whose fathers, or grandfathers, lost their hair at a young age may have inherited the genes that cause male pattern baldness from their ancestors. Somehow, it isn’t always passed on to every male descendant, and it may even skip a generation, in some cases.
I think that in the past, there might have been more of a stigma placed upon men who were bald than exists today. This could be due to the fact that there are several very attractive actors who are bald, or who are losing their hair. Patrick Stewart, Bruce Willis, and Vin Diesel are a few that come to my mind. Your selections may vary. Clearly, one does not have to have hair in order to land the lead role in a movie anymore.
Despite this, it is understandable that people feel very strong emotions when they start losing their hair. Many men will attempt to hide their hair loss, rather than embrace it. One can get hair plugs, or use a cream that contains minoxidil. You can do the dreaded “comb over”, or just start wearing a lot of hats. What most men who are experiencing male pattern baldness want is a treatment that will reverse it. So far, no such treatment exists.
A new study that was published in “The Journal of Clinical Investigation” sheds some light on the genetics behind male pattern baldness. This study indicates that there is a certain genetic defect that affects the way hair follicle stem cells convert to progenitor cells. A stem cell, of course, is the basis for cell specialization. What started as a stem cell can change into another kind of cell. In this case, the focus was on the number of progenitor cells that existed.
Researchers looked at samples of progenitor cells from the scalps of both bald and non-bald people who had androgenetic alopecia. The results showed that the bald samples had significantly fewer of the amount of progenitor cells that are required for normal hair follicle development. This could be the reason why some people experience male pattern baldness, while other people in the same family do not. This finding could open up possibilities for someone to develop a treatment for male pattern baldness in the future.
Image by Phil Shirley on Flickr