Do Bald Guys Have a Full Head of Hair That Just Won’t Grow?
hello dr
i just want to know if the hormone just kills the follicles or just makes the hairs very small. so does that mean the the bald guy has a full head of hair but they are extremely small that we cant see it?
thanks
I believe that after many years of being bald, the follicles on the scalp essentially die. I could be wrong.
The “infrastructure” that supports hair growth is atrophic (very thin) in the very bald man and has less active blood vessels, less fat, and less glandular tissue. When we transplant into this atrophic area, a miracle occurs and the thin scalp becomes thicker and more normal like (more blood vessels to nourish the new hair that we put back).
Some people believe (I am one of them) that hair growth and cycling depend upon chemical pathways controlled by genetics. If something is missing in one of the pathways (possibly more than one), the hair “seed”‘ disappears, but if the chemical pathway defect is fixed, I believe that the hair will regrow and a bald man will become hairy again. This is not a common conception, but research is being done to define the pathway.
So does this mean that if a man has mild thinning, you can transplant hair to that region and the thinning hair will receive more blood and possibly flourish again? Or, are those cells still going to miniaturize because they have a receptor(s) for balding?
Dr Rassman,
Steve has a very valid question regarding this topic. It would be great if you or one of your colleagues would respond to him.