Hair Loss Statistics & Treatment

Male pattern baldness, clinically known as androgenic alopecia, is the commonest type of male hair loss. This type of hair loss is caused mainly by genetic and hormonal factors and can occur over a period of time. According to statistics, 95% cases of baldness are related to male pattern hair loss; only a small number of men lose hair because of other factors such as chemotherapy, poor nutrition, and certain health conditions. It’s estimated that one out of every four men starts losing hair by the time he reaches the age of 30, and fifty out of every one hundred bald men start losing their locks to androgenic alopecia by the age of 50. Statistics further reveal that nearly 66% men in their early 60s either go bald or show signs of balding.

The fact that male pattern hair loss is a progressive type of baldness has a good and bad side to it. The good side is that you get enough time to seek medical help and prevent baldness. You have a proven and trusted drug called finasteride (brand name Propecia) to stop androgenic alopecia and possibly regrow new hair within a couple of years. But the bad side is that this type of hair loss is difficult to diagnose, mainly because it’s common for almost all men to lose hair on a regular basis.

This is often really important section of this theme. It’s estimated that human scalp contains about 100,000 threads of hair on an average and nearly 100-140 of them fall off everyday. The number of hair threads can vary according to ethnic backgrounds as well. For example, blonds usually have the thickest and most dense covering with about 140,000 threads on their scalp, while redheads have about 90,000 threads. Each hair thread has a life span of around four years after which it comes off on its own and is replaced by a new one within six months. So finding loose hairs on your pillow or in the comb doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re suffering from progressive hair loss.

Now the question is how to know which is what. In male pattern baldness, you lose hair in a typical pattern – first your hairline starts to recede, which is followed by thinning of hair on top of the head. Eventually the receding hairline meets the bald patch on top and you’re left with a thin covering of hair on either side of the head. Basically there are three ways to diagnose male pattern hair loss

Receding hairline gradual thinning of hair, and bald patches on the vertex

Looking at the statistics and nature of male pattern baldness, it’s advisable that you don’t wait till it is too late to do anything about prevention or regrowth. Hair loss treatment with finasteride should start early enough to prevent damage beyond repair. Medical surveys show that many bald men usually have someone bald in their close families. So even when you’re in your early 20s with no signs of hair loss, an enquiry into your family background will give you a clear picture as to how far is the risk of you going bald in future.

Alvin Dior who writes articles on various health topics. This article provides the hair loss statistics and its treatment options.