Dht 101

Medications for hair loss
1

Hello,
Just wanted your thoughts on DHT and hairloss.
So the way it works is testosterone gets converted to DHT and this DHT basically thins hair follicles, some people seem to be less inmune to this, which explains why people bald while others retain their hair.
Having said this, when you undergo a HT and hair follicles from the occipital area of the skull is transplanted to the front, this is hair which is and will always be resistant to DHT thus will never fall.
Two issues:

  1. Why do HT docs still prescribe Dutas, Minox after a HT if in fact the hair which has been transplanted should never experience the thinning of the hair that died and fell.
  2. If in fact you have certain hair follicles which are DHT resistant while others are not, why is then the hair loss pattern the same for most men, I mean starts at the front, temples, and so on. So the question then would be, isnt DHT produced primarily in these areas as opposed to the back and occpital area of the head. What I am trying to get at, is whether a HT would clearly resolve the problem unless you take Dutas or a similar drug forever.

Cheers

2

I guess that they do not prescribe dut for the transplanted hair but for the hair still on your head which can be affected by DHT in the future. If HM was available and you would have treated your entire head, you would not need any ‘hair preservation’ medical

3

» 1. Why do HT docs still prescribe Dutas, Minox after a HT if in fact the
» hair which has been transplanted should never experience the thinning of
» the hair that died and fell.

As the other poster explained to you, it’s NOT to protect the transplanted hair follicles, it’s to protect the REMAINING hair follicles which are still sensitive to androgens.

» 2. If in fact you have certain hair follicles which are DHT resistant
» while others are not, why is then the hair loss pattern the same for most
» men, I mean starts at the front, temples, and so on. So the question then
» would be, isnt DHT produced primarily in these areas as opposed to the back
» and occpital area of the head.

It probably doesn’t have much to do with whether or not DHT is produced in a specific hair follicle. It has more to do with the individual SENSITIVITY of a given hair follicle to DHT (or other androgens, for that matter). Nobody knows why hair follicles at the front and at the temples are usually more sensitive to androgens than other hair follicles at the vertex.

.

4

Shrinking and killing a hair follicle with MPB takes three things:

  1. That follicle’s native home area of your scalp must be genetically susceptible to androgen damage. (Transplanted follicles will retain the genetic programming of their orignal location no matter where you put them.)

  2. Androgens hitting the follicle. Type#2 DHT is far and away the biggest culprit, although all androgens are probably hurtful to some extent. Some of the androgens are coming just from circulating blood, but a lot of the androgen damage is coming from DHT manufactured right there in the follicle itself.

  3. Time. MPB damage seems to start accumulating literally at puberty, but it takes decades for the slow accumulation of damage to become clearly visible for most of us. (But a small percentage of guys is unlucky enough to be looking thin on top before they’re even out of high school.)

Age-related thinning also happens even in the “safe zone” hairs for a lot of men. Particularly those men who have already gotten extensive early MPB in the unsafe areas.

I personally subscribe to the theory that there is probably no such thing as a 100% androgen-proof hair follicle. I suspec that it’s really all just a matter of degree. Hairs that still look good into your retirement years (and also the men who never seem to get any MPB at all) are probably still getting some small amount of androgen damage. The genetic susceptibility is probably just low enough that the man will die of old age before the loss in those hairs becomes visible.