What are the Causes of Hair Loss ?
The most familiar type of hair loss is called baldness and it is the state of lacking hair where it often grows, especially on the head. The most common form of baldness is a progressive hair thinning condition called androgenic alopecia that occurs in men and women. The degree and patterns of baldness can vary greatly depending on gender, age, genetics and sometimes on one’s medical condition.
Androgenetic alopecia: The most common areas of hair loss in men are frontal, temporal and vertex, while the most commonly affected areas in women are behind the hairline and the top of the scalp and occasionally a receded hairline and/or vertex. The hair in the back of the head is rarely affected by thinning and serves as the donor area for hair transplantation.
Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is also known as male-pattern baldness and is the most common cause of hair loss. Approximately 50% of men are affected by the age of 50 and thinning of the hair can benign, the psycho-social ramifications of AGA can be significant. One of the hallmarks of androgenetic alopecia is the conversion of thick terminal hairs into miniaturized, vellus-like hairs. This process of miniaturization (i.e., shrinking of hair volume and growth length) is usually an indication that on is undergoing hair loss. The main mechanism for miniaturization relates to the shortening of the anagen phase, i.e., the hair becomes “lazy” and does not grow to its full term.