Pattern Hair Loss

Hello,

My name is Dr. Avanti Trivedi. So today I am going to discuss about a very common problem which we come across that is pattern hair thinning or pattern hair loss. So as the name signifies pattern hair thinning is the hair thinning or hair loss where a specific pattern is observed. In male that is called Male Patterned hair loss and in female that is called as female patterned hair loss. So in males what we see is that there is receding in hairline from the side that is the temporal area v shape and this thinning at the vertex area which gradually progresses to cause loss of hair in the total crown portion of the scalp. However, in females, the hairline remains intact even in advance cases and the hair thinning starts as the widening of the hair parting so there is gradually thinning over the central part of the scalp with the intact hairline. So the exact ideology of this type of pattern hair fall is multifactorial. There is no single factor which causes this type of hair fall.

So in males positive positive family history that is genetic or hereditary is a very common thing which we come across. However in females the exact ideology is not known. In most of the females with severe female pattern hair loss, we have seen there is some underlying hormonal imbalance like polycystic ovaries or polycystic ovarian syndromes that can be the trigger for this type of hair fall. The main thing that triggers this type of hair fall is the presence of the specific type of receptors for the hormone in the hair bulbs in genetically programmed individuals. So people who are susceptible to this kind of hair thinning they have these receptors on hair bulb over the frontal part over the distributed part and when the hormones gets attached to these receptors there is miniaturization of the hair follicle and there is thinning and gradually loss of the hair follicle. so this is the reason there is few people are susceptible and and few people you don’t see this type of hair thinning irrespective of the hormonal level. And that’s the reason of the specific pattern as well. The onset varies, it can start from the early 20s in few people 30s 40s even in 50s. So the clinical features the onset can vary from person to person but early diagnosis and the early treatment gives a better outcome. Sometimes there can be predisposing factor for this type of hair thinning like there is severe stress medical illness or weight loss or some chemical treatment or some drugs that are called sudden hair loss or telogen effluvium and that work as a trigger in the onset of these kinds of hair thinning.

So that history is also elucidated in people. The diagnosis is mainly clinical but clinical examinations necessary to rule out other causes of hair thinning like scarring alopecia, scarring alopecia and if there is underlying scalp is healthy unhealthy there is some other disease. So trichoscopy is another device which is helpful mainly in detecting the prognosis of the treatment or just to see how the patients going to respond to the treatment depending upon the health of the underlying hair follicles. In treatment wise the treatment can be divided into 4 parameters one is the medical treatment second is procedures or intervention third is surgical and fourth will be supportive. Earlier it was thought that the hair follicles once lost they become they are lost but the new clinical research shows that the hair follicles become dormant and if we timely treat the patient and these follicles can be stimulated and hair can be regrown. So that’s why the treatment is quite crucial in patterned hairloss. So medical line consist of giving oral medication and topical applications. As the hairfall is genetic the treatment has to be taken for a longer period of time.

So what it does it not only halts the progress of the disease but also it helps in stimulating new hair growth. So wherever the roots are there it promotes new growth as well as it makes the existing hair also much thicker. Intervention or procedure wise there are multiple treatments which are available like this mesotherapy, electroporation , PRP, derma roller, there is the laser light treatment. So these treatments can be done even either standalone or combination depending upon the severity of the disease depending upon the patient’s age and depending upon the need of the patient. So mesotherapy is a treatment where the nutrients or peptides growth factors these are like injected in the scalpe mesoderm with a very fine needle which helps in promoting hair growth & stopping the hairfall as well as increasing the nutrients at the hair bulb level. Electroporation is the similar technology but its not no needle mesotherapy because there are micro currents which are used and they help in opening the pores in the scalpe and penetration of the nutrients in the scalpe.

So in people who are not willing for envasive treatments or injections or people who are contraindicative like uncontrolled diabetes or health issues in those this treatment helps a lot. PRP is one of the most recent technique which gives really good results where the your own cells like platelets which are in your blood are used to give the results because its like your blood is withdrawn is concentrated and the platelet rich plasma is injected in the scalpes. So these platelets release different growth factors and that help promoting the growth. So even this gives really fantastic results in males as well as in females. Other than that derma roller is something which causes micro trauma at the dermis level. And this stimulates new growth. And low laser light treatment and laser light treatment is something which works like a supportive treatment for rest of the treatments or for medical line of management. It also increases the blood circulation and also helps in formation of new follicles promoting the new hair follicles. Surgical treatment of hair transplant it is one of the upcoming treatment and specially in advance cases it works really well because FUE follicular unit extraction is the technique used for hair transplant these days where the follicular units from the occipital area which is a resistant area is removed extracted and is transplanted in the frontal or the recipient area where the deficit is there.

So this technique gives really good results in both males and females specially in advance cases. Secondly if the donor area is also less the body hair are the second source specially in males which can be used like beard or chest for the hair regrowth. The supportive treatment mainly consists of the camouflaging treatment like hair fibres or there is micro pigmentation. So micro pigementation is a technique where the micro pigment which is a semi permanent pigment is deposited in the scalpe to give you that fuller effect. So even after treatment when the scalpe is little scanty when the hairgrowth is scanty to give you that fuller effect this technique really gives good result. So to conclude with pattern hairloss is a rising issue but timely treatment good treatment early diagnosis help a lot in giving you very good results. So to know further about your hair and about advanced treatment for your hair you can get in touch with us at Claro Clinic.

Thank you!