If you are suffering from male pattern baldness, you may be wondering how to slow male pattern baldness aside from other things. Male pattern baldness is another term for alopecia in men. It can be devastating to lose your hair because it can affect your self-confidence and much more. Continue reading to learn about male pattern baldness, its causes, and treatment.
Causes & Symptoms of Male Pattern Baldness
What causes male pattern baldness? It is typically genetic, which means that someone in your family has also suffered from the same thing. Male sex hormones are also to blame for male pattern baldness. This condition typically has to do with a hairline that is receding and hair that thins on the crown. Every strand of hair sits in a follicle. Baldness can begin to occur when this hair follicle gets smaller. This can result in delicate and shorter hair. Over time, this follicle will no longer continue to grow new hair. While the follicles survive, many people hope that new hair growth is still possible.
Symptoms of male baldness are first noticed at the hairline. Over time, the hairline will continue to recede in the shape of an “M.” Over time, the area on the back of the head will also begin to get finer and enlarge. This results in the hair becoming delicate, thinner, and shorter. A U-shape is normally what is left, which is a pattern of hair surrounding the sides of the head and no hair on the back of the head.
Diagnosis & Treatment
A doctor will normally be able to diagnose male pattern baldness just by looking at the patient’s hair and by the pattern of the hair loss. Other medical conditions can also cause hair loss, especially if your hair sheds or breaks a lot, or if you experience hair loss accompanied by pus, pain, redness, or scaling.
Your doctor will perform a skin biopsy as well as blood tests and a few other tests to accurately diagnose your condition and to see if there is any underlying cause present. Sometimes it is not helpful to diagnose hair loss just by conducting a hair analysis if it is caused by nutritional disorders.
Treatment for male pattern baldness is really not necessary unless you are extremely self-conscious about your condition. You can easily disguise hair loss by wearing hairpieces or even changing your hairstyle. This is probably the safest and cheapest way to control the situation.
However, there are also medicines available to treat male pattern baldness that your doctor can prescribe, such as:
- Minoxidil
- Finasteride
- Dutasteride
Other available treatments are:
- Platelet Rich Plasma, also known as PRP is injected into the scalp to help with hair growth
- Hair transplants
- Using light caps, helmets, or lasers to help revive hair loss
Just because you have male pattern baldness doesn’t mean that you have a medical disorder. But it can create anxiety or lead to low self-esteem. Hair loss is typically permanent even though there are things you can do to stimulate hair growth.