Male Pattern Baldness Skipping Generations
Hello Doctor,
I’m a 28 y/o male, and I have a question reagarding genetic balding. I understand that MPB can skip generations, but based on your experience from treating many patients, how often have you seen cases of MPB on patients, whom claim to have no family history of balding? Is it very rare, like 1%? Or is it more common, like 20-30%? In my case, my father, and all uncles and both grandfathers has no balding. I appreciate your response.
I would be guessing that something in the order of 20% of men coming to my office report their inability to match the balding pattern they have in their family line. This may or may not be generation skipping. Sometimes, the actual balding pattern that is inherited is less or more than the worst in either side of the family. The other side of that coin is to respond by saying that more than half of balding men will recognize that their pattern existed in some male member of their family (father, grandfathers, uncle or brother).
I’ve got several friends who are balding and in a few instances, their fathers still had a full head of hair.
Also, it seems several people I know who have lost hair haven’t lost any more for years, even though they’ve never mentioned taking any treatment. I’ve heard male pattern baldness does stop and start sometimes.
It’s a strange thing indeed, a real crap shoot. I guess you just never know when it’ll kick in, if it will, and if it does, how far it’ll go.