Alopecia: A Balding Disorder

One of the harder moments in adulthood comes at the realization that you’re getting older.  It doesn’t fully sink in, however, until that exact moment when you look in the bathroom mirror and start to see your hair thinning.  You are losing a little bit of yourself with every strand. Every memory of combing your hair before picture day in school, shaving your head for summer swim meets, growing it long in winter to keep your head warm, are all fading.  One truth is all that matters now, and that is that you will never have what you once did.  You will forever be looking in the mirror to see how much is gone.

But did you know there is a balding disorder called Alopecia that primarily affects men? This male-pattern balding typically begins with a slowly receding hairline and balding on top of the head. Other types of hair loss may not follow the particular pattern causing a patch look. 

Alopecia is a medical term for losing hair or going bald and refers to many types of balding. Male-pattern baldness is the most common type of hair loss and can progress over a period of years. The earlier it stars the balder you are likely to become. 

Patients have various symptoms because it depends on what it actually causing their particular baldness. For men, hair loss usually begins on the top with small amounts remaining on the sides. Physical stress can also cause a lot of stress. Hereditary hair loss affects about 80 million men and women in the U.S. By comparison, the autoimmune disorder alopecia areata affects about 4.5 million people in the U.S. at some time in their lives.

How do doctors treat this? Hair transplants are quite common but altering prescription medications or reducing the dosage can also help. the key is treating an underlying condition if one exists like infection that could be contributing to hair loss. Making lifestyle and diet changes also helps and treating overactive and underactive thyroid can have a large impact. 

esearchers have connected an overuse of Vitamin A to speeding up the process of male-pattern balding. A family history of baldness plays a huge role in a man's risk.