Science Avenue: Male Pattern Baldness

A thickening problem of thinning proportions

What is Male Pattern Baldness?

Every now and then, Science Avenue likes to veer away from the doom-and-gloom researching of topics like palm oil, to focus on something lighthearted that affects people in often strange and fascinating ways. However, before I continue, I’d like to dissuade any notion that male pattern baldness, insofar as it relates to male body image, is not an important issue in today’s society. Confidence is rooted in all physical characteristics, but hair, perhaps more than any other visible physical trait carries presence, character, and personality.

Male pattern baldness (MPB) – and it’s counterpart in women: female pattern baldness – is comedic, but the science behind the affliction is not a laughing matter. The best part about science is the fact that the most inane concepts have fascinating underlying principles. For those interested in finding the reasons for things, science makes it possible to find wonders in even the most mundane of topics.

What, then, is male pattern baldness? Also known as androgenic alopecia, MPB is a genetic disorder that results in hair loss – or hair thinning – as a result of hair follicles becoming susceptible to the reduction of androgens as individuals age.

Complex organic species grow to maturity thanks to the activation of certain hormones. In mammals, androgens – hormones that induce the development of primary and secondary male sex characteristics – are responsible for the development of the basic sexual organs like the penis and testes. Androgens are also present in females, though not in levels as high as in males.

MPB is the result of the reduction of androgenic activation, and most hair loss occurs because hair follicles – the mammalian organ responsible for the production of hair – are susceptible to reduced androgen production. In short, for men and women, hair loss primarily occurs due to the reduced production of the “male” sex hormones. It’s important to recognize that androgens are an umbrella term that refer to all hormones that induce the development of male sex characteristics. Testosterone – quite possibly the second-most well-known hormone, after estrogen – is an androgen.

It’s also important to note that MPB is a genetic disorder, which means that individuals with families with no history of the affliction are less likely to show signs of hair loss. If fathers or grandfathers – mothers or grandmothers – show signs of MPB, then it is far more likely for successive generations to carry the genetic potential for androgenic alopecia.

Why is Male Pattern Baldness important?

MPB is one of those afflictions that simultaneously induce giggles and mild panic in most people. The notion that a man – or woman – can lose his – or her – hair is terrifying and often emasculating. Men are defined by certain socially-appropriated characteristics. According to the media, men are big and strong – they provide for their families. Most importantly, men have a full head of luscious hair. For most men suffering from MPB, the affliction is one they would love to live without.

However, MPB is more than just an emasculating illness that results from hormonal imbalances – it is a result of a reduction of the hormones responsible for activating male sex characteristics. Of course, its presence is merely an indication that the hair follicles are suffering from androgenic miniaturization.

What is the future of Male Pattern Baldness?

Luckily, the human race has been working on possible cures for MPB since the first man noticed he just didn’t look the way he used to when he was young. Excluding the option of a toupee or wig, there are now medical alternatives to hair loss. Drugs like minoxidil – branded as Rogaine – allow those suffering from hair loss to slow down their affliction. Other options include costlier solutions like hair transplants.

In the case of male pattern baldness, there are few more absurd options than simply accepting that hair thins, skin sags, and individuals grow old. Whether a result of genetics or bad luck, the body changes – for better or worse – and accepting that it is natural for humans to look older once they grow older should be the standard. Of course, I still have a complete head of hair, so maybe my words come from a lack of experience. Perhaps hair loss is every bit the disastrous, damaging, and damning affliction that society claims it to be.