American Hair Loss Association | Hair Transplant & Hair Loss Blog

Archive for the ‘DHT’ Category

Hair transplant surgery originated in Japan. In 1939, Dr. Okuda, a Japanese dermatologist developed a breakthrough process to restore hair to those who suffered with scalp injuries and for burn victims. He used a punch technique, which involved extracting small sections of hair-bearing skin and implanting these into small holes in the areas where skin had been damaged. Once these grafts healed, they produced hair in areas that were previously bald.

Just a few years later another Japanese dermatologist, Dr. Tamura, improved upon Okuda’s method by minimizing the size of the grafts down to one to three hairs each. He was working with women to restore hair in the pubic area lost to either genetics or trauma. The surgery that Dr. Tamura developed is quite similar to surgeries that are still performed to this day.

Because these innovative developments in hair transplant surgery occurred around the time of World War II, they did not become accessible in the U.S. until many years later.

During the early 1950s, New York dermatologist Dr. Norman Orentreich completed the first hair transplant in the United States for a man who had male pattern baldness. Orentreich faced much criticism for the procedure that he’d developed. His technique was similar to Dr. Okuda’s, and did not render attractive or natural looking results. He did, however, establish that hair on the back and sides of a man’s scalp was not prone to the ravages of DHT and male pattern baldness.

Hair transplant procedures became more common by the 1960s, but because of the less than pleasing results of the early punch graft procedures developed and marketed my doctors like Norman Orentiech, hair transplant surgery developed a negative reputation. It took almost three decades for hair transplant surgeons to develop significant improvements to these early methods.

In the 1990s, follicular unit micro grafting was introduced and changed the field of hair transplants forever. Finally, the old stigmas could be dismissed and hair transplantation could become a viable option for hair loss sufferers who were appopraite candidates.

Today, surgeons continue to improve upon methods for performing hair transplant surgery. Today’s state of the art techniques can produce stunning results and are increasingly embraced by hair loss sufferers.

To learn more about what to look for when considering hair transplant surgery, visit the surgical hair restoration section of the American Hair Loss Association’s website.

Also, to find a qualified hair transplant surgeon check with The International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons.

Is it possible that there is a direct link between hair loss and heart disease? Could one of these diseases be causing the other or is there one source causing both?

These and other questions have been brought to light in several recent studies.

At the University of Tucson, little difference was found in heart attack risk for men who were balding and men who were not. It has, however, been suggested that hair loss is related to an increase in androgens. These hormones may also affect the development of coronary atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

Another, previous study, did find that vertex baldness (hair loss at the crown) was indeed strongly linked to the risk for heart attack. That study found that greater hair loss directly correlated with a greater risk for heart attack.

Researchers at Tucson decided to look further into the matter. They looked at 5056 men between the ages of 52 and 75 years old. Of those men, 767 had already suffered a heart attack.

The results:

• One third of the men had little or no hair loss.
• Thirteen percent had frontal baldness.
• Fifty-four percent had vertex baldness

The study showed that men who were experiencing hair loss at the front of their heads were 28% more likely to have had a heart attack. Mild vertex baldness only indicated a 2% greater risk. According to a Reuters Health article at Yahoo News, “men with moderate vertex baldness were 40 percent more likely to have had a heart attack, while risk was increased by 18 percent for men with severe vertex baldness.”

The study conducted by the University of Tucson concluded that male pattern baldness does not provide a means to determine risk of heart attacks.

In the end, many questions are still unanswered. While there does appear to be some link between hair loss and heart disease, that link remains unclear. The Tucson researchers noted that “If the types of baldness seen in the current study are indeed due to high androgen levels, it’s likely that the hormone does not increase heart attack or atherosclerosis risk.”

You can read the full Reuters Health article on Yahoo News at the following link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080409/hl_nm/heart_attack_baldness_dc_1

You can find detailed information about the hormonal causes of hair loss and related conditons at the American Hair Loss Association.

Question: I’ve been taking Avodart for 4 1/2 yrs and got good results until about a year ago when it seems to be reverting back a little. Can the body build a resistance to dutasteride or other drugs and lose some
effectiveness over time? Thanks.

Answer: As you probably aware, clinical studies have not been performed on Avodart with respect to hair loss. We can only extrapolate from those clinical experience and studies done on men taking Propecia. These medications decrease the production of DHT by reducing the concentration of 5-alpha reductase which catalyses the transformation testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). The body does not build up resistance to DHT blockers. Propecia 5 year study results showed that while Propecia did continue to prevent hair loss, there was a progressive decrease in the amount of hair grown over the 5-year period. See http://www.propecia.com/finasteride/propecia/hcp/prod_data_highlights/
hair_count_increases.jsp.
Avodart could have similar behavior in that less hair is seen over time but as in the case of Propecia, the amount of hair remaining after 5 years is significantly more that one would see if placebo or no medication were taken. So yes, medications can lose a degree of effectiveness over time but in the case of DHT blockers the effect is far superior to not using the medications at all. If you are not using minoxidil, it would be recommended to add this to your regimen. The new foam preparation has been very well received with far fewer side effects than the liquid.

Best regards,
Bradley R. Wolf M.D.
Medical Advisor, International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons