male pattern baldness
Have you seen the Griffin Center featured in the December Men’s Book?
The Griffin Center for Hair Restoration and Research was recently featured in Men’s Book Atlanta magazine’s December issue to answer your frequently asked questions about men’s hair loss misconceptions and causes, as well as hair restoration surgery options. Make sure to get your copy today and check it out!
To keep up with the latest in hair loss and restoration news and updates, follow the Griffin Center on Facebook and Twitter!
The Stages of the Hair Growth Cycle Explained
Losing hair is a natural part of the hair growth cycle. We lose hair so that new hair can replace it. However, when hair does not grow back as it should, we start to notice thinning hair and a more visible scalp through the hair. In order to understand hair loss, one must understand normal hair growth and shedding cycles.
The hair growth cycle is ongoing, and on an average day, 90% of your hair is in the resting phase while the other 10% is either growing or shedding. Balding occurs when the hair sheds, and no hair re-grows to replace it. Hair is made of keratin, the same material that makes up your nails and the outer layer of your skin. Hair is really a dead structure while the follicular bulb is the growing center. Because the actual strand of hair is not alive, hot curlers, chemical processing, hard plastic combs can cause damage and lead to split ends and fracturing of the shafts.
The hair growth cycle begins with the anagen or growth phase. During this phase cells in the root of the hair divide to add to the hair shaft. Depending on your genetics, the growth phase can last anywhere from 2 to 6 years. As the anagen phase comes to an end, an unknown signal tells the hair to enter the next stage. The hair grows about a fourth of an inch each month, and though it is technically dead, a healthy hair care regimen can keep it looking beautiful while it’s in the anagen phase.
The catagen stage follows the anagen phase and is made up of a 2-3 week transitional period in which the hair is no longer growing. During this stage, a club hair is formed. A club hair occurs when the section of the hair follicle attaches to the hair shaft, cutting the follicle off from its blood supply and the cells that produce new hair. This club hair leads to the next stage of the hair growth and shedding cycle.
The final stage of the hair growth and shedding cycle is the telogen or resting phase. During this two to four month phase, the hair begins to shed at normal levels, and the anagen phase begins again producing new hair.
The average person sheds around 100 telogen-stage hairs a day between brushing the hair, showering, and other activities. High-stress and trauma like high fevers, nutritional deficiencies, pneumonia, and accidents can cause hair to shed in higher than normal amounts. Patterned baldness (androgenetic alopecia) occurs when hair production slows and beings to produce weak, shorter hairs, eventually ceasing to grow completely in some areas.
Men and women often lose hair for different reasons and should be properly diagnosed before beginning any hair restoration treatment. Depending on the cause of your hair loss, there are both surgical and non-surgical treatment options including hair restoration surgery and medications like Propecia®, Rogaine®, and Proscar®.
For more information on hair loss causes and hair restoration, contact the Griffin Center of Hair Restoration and Research. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter for more hair regrowth news and updates.
Do Women Lose More Hair During the Autumn Months?
A study published in the journal Dermatology shows that women lose more hair during autumn than they do in other seasons. Swedish researchers gathered a sample of 823 women and tracked their hair growth and shedding cycles.
Each person goes through the hair growth and shedding cycle. In the anagen phase also known as the growth phase of the hair follicle, new hair cells are produced. The catagen phase is where the hair is no longer growing but the follicle is shrinking. The final stage, the telogen phase, occurs when the hair is in a resting state, no longer growing, but on the verge of shedding. The hair stays in this resting state for about three months when it begins to shed, and the anagen phase begins gradually. Therefore, the average patient loses about 100 hairs per day. At the end of the telogen phase, the hair cycle of growth begins again, and if you could watch the follicular opening you would see a new hair emerge in a couple of weeks.
Though each individual’s hair growth and shedding cycle schedules will vary slightly, the researchers found that the women studied had the highest percentage of hair in the telogen stage at the end of summer. This means that after a period of time, these women will have some hair loss since the resting phase is always followed by a shedding. During this time, the patient may feel that his or her hair is thinning with the natural loss of hair that is occurring. The same sort of hair-loss phasing happens, though with a lower percentage of hair, in the spring as well. Researchers speculate that this extra amount of lost hair may be brought about by evolution, since the body seems to hold on to hair during the warmer months to protect the scalp from the summer sun.
For those people who experience hair loss with no growth to follow it, The Griffin Center of Hair Restoration and Research offers both non-surgical and surgical treatment and prevention options for women’s hair loss. Most commonly this hair loss is the result of female patterned hair loss, and the minuturization of hairs which eventually do not return. This process can be slowed and even in some cases reversed with treatment.
Contact us for more information on hair loss or to schedule an appointment with Dr. Edmond Griffin, hair restoration specialist. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates.
Why Do More Men Have Hair Transplant Surgery Than Women? What Impedes Women With Hair Loss from Having a Hair Transplant, if Anything?
If you keep up with my blog, you know women’s hair loss is a very complex topic, and women’s hair transplant surgery is no less complex. However, hair transplantation for women is more than possible. In fact, I have performed hundreds of hair restoration surgeries on women. When I began transplant surgery in the 70s only 2% of my patients were women; this number has increased fivefold.
To answer your first question—While there are many causes for hair loss in men besides genetics, a majority of men facing hair loss have male pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia). Just as with women’s hair loss, men can also lose hair because of hormones, stress, and certain medications, among other causes. Men with pattern baldness are usually optimal candidates for hair restoration surgery because they have an adequate donor region for harvesting follicular grafts. Women’s expectations are generally much higher than men’s. Men approach hair transplant surgery wanting more hair, while women usually want a return to full thickness. Thinning hair is not acceptable for them, and oftentimes more than one session may be necessary.
Another reason you hear about more men undergoing hair restoration surgery is that there is a stronger social stigma tied to women discussing hair loss conditions. Remember the attention placed on Lady Gaga when she discussed using Rogaine® in interviews? While the pop superstar took advantage of topic treatments, it is becoming more acceptable for women to seek medical hair loss treatments beyond Rogaine®.
Also, women’s hair restoration surgery is more complex than men’s, and doctors are even sometimes reluctant to perform surgery on women because of the frequency of temporary hair loss amongst female patients. When female patients consider hair transplant surgery, the surgeon must diagnose the reason for loss making sure that it is not just a temporary loss where the hair will regrow with other medical treatments. For example, if hair loss is caused by scarring related to trauma or surgery, the transplanted hair may not grow in its new home.
I have been researching hair loss and hair restoration for 35 years. Therefore, after a thorough consultation which may include a scalp biopsy to confirm diagnosis, I am usually able to pinpoint the cause of a patient’s hair loss and suggest a suitable treatment plan, which may include surgery, hair loss prevention medication, or other therapies to regrow hair.
Now, for the second question—There are multiple variables that could prevent both men and women from having hair transplant surgery. In addition to an inadequate donor region or a larger than normal recipient area, hair loss caused by high fevers, trauma, or hormone fluctuation, such as women who lose hair during pregnancy, is often temporary. Likewise, men and women who lose their hair because of certain medications, especially after chemotherapy, can experience temporary hair loss. Usually once medications are discontinued the hair loss stops and hair recovers. Patients with temporary hair loss are not candidates for hair transplant surgery. However, these patients often need to seek the care of a hair restoration specialist to determine the cause of hair loss.
I have performed hundreds of hair restorations on women, and they have been equally as successful and grow as well as my male hair transplant procedures, as you can see in my women’s hair restoration before and after gallery. The “pattern” of female pattern hair loss is different from male pattern hair loss. Women, luckily, do not go totally bald like men. Men bald from the front backwards and lose hair in the temporal regions (around and above the ears) whereas only 12% of women lose hair near the ears. Women are most likely to begin balding near the front of the head and on the crown, leaving a rim of good hair around the head. Because men and women bald differently, I use specialized techniques to separate the donor and treatment regions during female hair transplant surgery to accommodate the distinct challenges presented by this procedure.
If you are a women experiencing hair loss and considering hair restoration, you need to first determine the cause of your hair loss. Schedule a consultation to learn more and to find out if you might be a candidate for surgery. Be sure to connect with us on Facebook.
Have You Seen The Griffin Center in the September/October Issue of The Men’s Book?
The September/October issue of The Men’s Book Atlanta featured an ad for the Griffin Center! Contact us for more information on hair loss therapies and treatments or to schedule your consultation.
Treating Hair Loss with Stem Cells
As an expert in hair restoration surgery who is dedicated to ongoing hair loss research, Dr. Edmond I. Griffin prides himself on staying abreast of new hair loss studies and possible treatment methods. If you keep up with his blog, you’ve probably read about some of the newest techniques for hair regrowth, those used at The Griffin Center of Hair Restoration and Research and those currently still being researched like the MartiStem® MicroMatrix. Research in the field of hair loss and hair restoration is becoming more promising every day with possible options for hair loss treatment like the aforementioned pixie dust, Botox® injections, and the use of platelet rich plasma. Recently, Yale researchers have been studying the use of stem cells for hair loss treatment.
Researchers have studied stem cells previously for disease treatment, but it was just recently that Yale researchers pinpointed stem cells in the scalp of bald men as an underlying cause of androgenetic alopecia (patterned baldness). The researchers concluded that hair growth is dependent upon fat within the scalp. In men with male pattern baldness, the strip of fat on the scalp shrinks and hair cannot grow. When hair grows, the scalp’s layer of fat expands (a process called adipogenesis). Specialized stem cells, known as precursor cells, are responsible for expanding the layer of fat.
The researchers reached this conclusion after injecting precursor cells into mice that were unable to produce hair or the fat necessary to produce hair, and in two weeks hair began to grow. The precursor cells produced a chemical called platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) that produced hair growth 100 times faster than the rate of non-treated mice. Overall, the mice treated with PDGF saw 86% restored hair follicle growth. Before stem cells can be used for hair growth in humans, scientists must determine that the cellular signaling in humans is the same as that of the mice.
It may be a while before humans are treated for baldness with stem cells, but the research shows promise. The providers at The Griffin Center are watching this research closely for further developments. Whether you’re searching for a hair loss prevention regimen or debating hair transplant surgery, schedule a consultation with Dr. Griffin today so that he can listen to your concerns, determine a cause for hair loss, and recommend a method of treatment. To stay on top of new techniques for hair restoration, be sure to find us on Facebook and keep reading his blog.
Answers to Common Questions about Hair Loss Causes
Q.) What causes hair loss?
A.)Although genetic predisposition is the most common cause of hair loss in both men and women, there are numerous other factors to consider such as medical conditions, hormonal imbalances, medications, excessive weight loss, chemotherapy, radiation, and traumatic injuries (including burns to the scalp) that can also cause hair loss.
Q.) How is the cause of my hair loss determined?
A.) As highlighted in our previous women’s hair loss series, a dermatologist can help you identify the cause of your hair loss. The single most important thing when determining hair loss is the doctor’s experience. First, he or she will start by asking a round of questions to better understand your condition. Then he/she can order or perform tests which may include hair pull test, hair shed/pull collection, scalp biopsy, and blood tests.
Q.) Isn’t male patterned baldness the same thing as female patterned baldness?
A.) Both male and female patterned baldness(androgenetic alopecia) are caused by a predisposition to the effects of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) on the hair follicles due to an inherited gene. However, the pattern in female pattern baldness is different than that of male pattern baldness, meaning though the causes of these types of hair loss are similar, the rate and areas in which patients of opposite genders notice hair loss are still very different. › Continue reading
Many Uses of BOTOX®: New Research Shows Using BOTOX® Can Help Re-grow Hair
Generally used to treat wrinkles, muscle relaxing BOTOX® Cosmetic has a proven variety of other medical uses. Aside from removing wrinkles around the eyes, a couple of BOTOX® injections can also correct the appearance of cross-eyes and uncontrollable blinking. Some doctors also inject BOTOX® to reduce sweating for patients who suffer from hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating). Others use it to treat patients with migraine headaches. In fact, back in 2006, dermatologist Eric Finzi studied treating depression with BOTOX®. His research showed that BOTOX® treatment helped his patients who suffered from depression come off their depression medication. However, the newest use for BOTOX®, and the one I find most interesting is using BOTOX® to stimulate hair growth.
A dermatologist from Beverly Hills, Dr. Simon Ourian, administered BOTOX® injections to help relieve his mother’s chemotherapy-related migraines, and was surprised to find her hair returned around the injection sites. Since then, more research has been conducted on the topic including a study published in the Journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons discussing BOTOX® use in the treatment of male pattern baldness.
The study consisted of fifty male subjects, ranging from 19 to 57 years of age, who were observed over a 60 week period. Each subject received two treatment cycles of 150 injections during the 60 week period. Researchers utilized various methods of determining hair loss rates, like measuring hair count within a fixed 2 cm area and collecting loose hairs from a pillow with a lint roller. None of the subjects experienced adverse effects. The results suggested that BOTOX® appears to reduce hair loss and stimulate hair growth in some men suffering from androgenetic alopecia (pattern baldness).
Aside from the study’s results, I’ve found through use with my patients that injecting BOTOX® around donor regions during hair transplant procedures helps hair re-grow around the incision scars. Not only does it help hair grow around scars, I’ve noticed BOTOX® also lessens the redness and thickness of scars. It may not effectively treat all types of hair loss, as hair loss causes are different for different people, but it will be interesting to see if more studies confirm using BOTOX® to treat male patterned baldness.
Men, women and children all experience hair loss for different reasons, but my staff at the Griffin Center and I are here to help. If you are experiencing hair loss and are looking for a hair loss prevention or treatment method, contact us to schedule an appointment today. First, I will determine what’s causing your hair loss, and then, I can devise a treatment plan specific to your condition. For more information, visit my website and keep reading my blog. Also, find me on Facebook and let me know what you’d like to read.
Pump Up the Hair: Cortisone Treatments for Hair Loss
As we’ve discussed previously on our blog, genetically linked balding (androgenetic alopecia) can be treated with topical, botanically derived treatments. The most common treatments for male pattern loss remains the topical formula which includes minoxidil and the oral medication finesteride resulting in 80-90% halting the progression of hair loss. For hair loss where inflammation is prominent, like alopecia areata, the steroid cortisone is the treatment option for hair restoration since surgery is certainly not an option.
The term STEROID conjures images of muscular athletes and body builders, but it should be known that there are some viable, medical uses for cortisone, a type of steroid. Anabolic –androgenic steroids are often the culprit behind over-developed muscles and the super human athletic abilities you hear about in the news. This class of steroids works primarily to facilitate the rapid growth of muscle and allows for enhanced endurance. This happens because anabolic-androgenic steroids mimic sex linked androgens like testosterone that signal the body to boost protein synthesis and create muscle. One downside to these steroids is that they often accelerate hair loss in men and women who are genetically predisposed to balding (among other side effects when used in high doses without caution.)
Corticosteroids are also a class of steroids; which work to mimic the naturally occurring hormone cortisone. According to an article published by the International Alliance of hair Restoration Surgeons (IAHRS), corticosteroids are used in hair-restoration therapy for their ability to regulate the body’s inflammatory response, allergic reactions, and the symptoms of auto-immune disorders. Any alopecia involving scarring such as lupus would be considered a type of balding which would be responsive to cortisones. Alopecia areata, is balding exhibited as perfectly round, smooth circles on the scalps of men, women, and children. With this condition, monthly injections of very dilute cortisone are injected just under the skin just to the depth of the hair follicles which inhibits the inflammation of white blood cells: allowing hair regrowth within 1 to 4 months (typically). The limited use of this cortisone is very safe and usually results in no side effects and does not suppress the body’s immune system.
In this age of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), many patients both men and women have been given topical or injections of low dose hormone replacement. All these medications can increase the natural balding of the patient. These persons should especially investigate the use of a blocker like finesteride so that the messenger of baldness, DHT, will be blocked and baldness will be prevented. This advice applies to both males and females. Of course, females of child bearing age should not use finesteride without understanding its uses and its potential side effects.
It is of utmost importance that you seek the medical advice from your dermatologist before you begin taking any steroid-like product for hair restoration and regrowth. To learn more about the other non-surgical hair-loss treatments available through Dr. Edmond Griffin visit The Griffin Center of Hair Restoration and Research’s website, contact their office, or subscribe to their blog.
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