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Thursday, April 21, 2011

Going bald? Blame your hormones

Eisha Sarkar
Posted on Hello Wellness on Apr 20, 2011
You're 30 but you feel like you're 20. You've got the energy, the confidence and the vitality. What you don't have is the hair. You're losing too much too soon. And when people start talking about that little bald patch, you want to scream at them.

Hair can be a touchy issue. Common it may be but nobody wants to go bald early. While there are many causes for androgenic alopecia or male pattern baldness, it's a male hormone or androgen called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) that is often found to be the culprit.

What’s DHT?
The active metabolite DHT is produced by the action of the enzyme 5-alpha reductase. It is manufactured primarily in the liver and the skin (including the hair follicle). When DHT reaches your scalp, it binds with androgen receptors on the hair follicle, blocks and interrupts the normal growth of the hair follicle and prevents essential nutrients and oxygen that fuels your follicle. Over a period of time, your hair follicles will produce finer and finer hair through each hair growth cycle.

Both men and women with androgenic alopecia typically have higher levels of 5-alpha reductase, lower levels of total testosterone, higher levels of unbound/free testosterone, and higher levels of total free androgens including DHT. Factors such as stress, genetics, hormones and certain stimulants may enhance the production of DHT. Diets rich with animal fats cause excessive amounts of testosterone, and in turn DHT, to be released into the blood stream.

Does masturbation cause hair loss?
Overdoing self-manipulation converts too much testosterone into DHT. High levels of DHT overload the body causing baldness and possible prostate enlargement if blood circulation is poor in the prostate area causing a build-up of the compound. Reducing the frequency of your self-gratification may help maintain low levels of DHT and avoid hair loss.

Save your hair!
If you can remove these hormones from accumulating in your hair follicles, you can effectively prevent further hair loss. Treatments such as Propecia and Minoxidil have been proven to stop and even reverse this condition.  Saw palmetto is also said to reduce the activity of the 5-alpha reductase. However, check with your doctor before undergoing any medical treatment.

1 comment:

Tim Cooper said...

Baldness is one of the major problems which we can found in many males such that this can be due to the heredity and also due to the hormonal imbalance. Therefore we must ask about this from doctors and solve this problem out.