Hair Loss

Changing trends in hair restoration surgery

Mysore Venkataram

edited exerpt: “…The term androgenetic alopecia (pattern baldness) has evolved from its dependence on the twin factors of androgens and genetic background. Pattern hair loss is probably multifactorial and may be inherited as an autosomal dominant trait with variable penetrance. The responsible genes have not yet been identified.

Although the term is used for both males and females, there are considerable differences between the sexes. Male pattern alopecia (hair loss) often presents in the first decade after puberty and is characterized by deep bitemporal recession and balding of the vertex, whereas female pattern hair loss is more diffuse, without bitemporal recession.

It is doubtful whether the hair loss seen in women is primarily androgen dependent and it is possible that several other factors may be responsible; hence the term ‘female pattern hair loss (FPHL)’ is preferred to the term androgenetic alopecia when referring to women with this type of alopecia. One noteworthy feature in both female and male pattern hair loss is that occipital scalp is spared of this process and the hairs in this region persist for life…”