If a Man Gets Castrated While Losing Hair, Does the Loss Just Stop Immediately?
Doctor Rassman and Pak
I have a question about castration. Does castration only stop hairloss if a person were to be castrated before puberty(hence before male pattern baldness starts), or does it also stop hairloss once hairloss has started as well? for example lets say there is a 30 year old with active hairloss, he gets castrated, does the loss stop, or will it still continue regardless of the castration?
Im not thinking about castration lol, just want to know for knowledge purposes
My educated guess is that once the hair loss starts you cannot completely stop the process even with castration for the hair that is scheduled to be lost (i.e. apoptosis). I could be way off base, though. I’m not going to suggest castration to prove it one way or the other.
doctor Rassman but in the paragraph that you have on the new hair website under hormones it says
“The specific relationship between testosterone and hormonally induced hair loss was discovered by a psychiatrist early in this century. At that time, castration was commonly performed on patients with certain types of mental illness. The rationale behind this procedure was that it was believed to be a treatment for mental illness at a time when there were no other forms of real treatment. Castration seemed to have a calming effect upon many patients and castration reduced the sex drive of patients who had no outlet for their desires. The doctor noted that the identical twin brother of one patient was profoundly bald while the mentally ill twin had a full head of hair. The doctor decided to determine the effect of treating his patient with testosterone, which had recently become available in a purified form. He injected his patient, the hairy twin, with testosterone to see what would happen. Within weeks, the hairy twin began to lose all but his wreath of permanent hair, just like his normal twin. The doctor, then, stopped giving the testosterone to see whether the process would be reversed, but the balding process continued and his patient never regained his full head of hair. It was apparent to him that eliminating testosterone will slow, or stop, further hair loss once it has begun, but it will not revive any dead follicles.”
so basically it says
“The doctor, then, stopped giving the testosterone to see whether the process would be reversed, but the balding process continued and his patient never regained his full head of hair.”
then it says
“It was apparent to him that eliminating testosterone will slow, or stop, further hair loss once it has begun, but it will not revive any dead follicles.”
the thing I don’t understand is that the doctor who did the testosterone injection first says even stoping the testosterone injection the balding process still continued, then he says eliminating testosterone can slow or even stop further hairloss. makes no sense. either it stops it or its still continues.
Dr. Rassman, you DON’T recommend castration to stop hair loss? Oh my – I better cancel my appointment with my local GP, then…
Don’t agree. Castration stops MPB. Even if the balding process started way before. What i do think about castration is that it doesn’t regrow much hair.
I’m surprised about doc’s last comment, he appears to have said the opposite here: https://baldingblog.com/2012/07/09/why-doesnt-castration-regrow-lost-hair-but-propecia-does/
I agree with his previous opinion about this topic.
there is this study as well! now I am really confused
“A study of 21 adolescent and young adult males, before castration and for eight to eighteen years afterwards, showed that after orchiectomy there was no development of male pattern baldness (MPB) nor of any grossly recognizable denudation of the scalp. There was no expansion of bald areas in existence at the time of castration. At the end of the study the eunuchs, compared with intact males of similar age, exhibited a significantly lower incidence of MPB (P=.01) and had no further loss of coarse hairs in the pattern that in most males results in recession of the frontal hairline (P<.01). After castration, no increase in the number of coarse hairs was detected in bald or sparsely-haired areas of the frontal hairline. It is concluded that the remedial value of drastic reduction in androgenic stimulation is probably nil with regard to return of coarse hairs which have been lost along the frontal hairline in young men. In 3 men with baldness of the crown of the head at the time of orchiectomy, a limited increase in the number of coarse hairs occurred after the operation in 1 but not in the others. Further study is required to ascertain the potential for partial regrowth of coarse hairs in subjects with late-appearing forms of MPB involving the dorsum of the head.”
And some selected passages from the body of the article:
“It was first necessary to establish that androgenic stimulation had been markedly and permanently reduced after orchiectomy. Studies of 15 of the eunuchs, including data obtained eight to eighteen years after castration, showed that androgenic stimulation had not only been markedly decreased but had remained so.
“The area of denudation did not increase after castration in any subject, regardless of the presence or absence of bald areas at the time of orchiectomy. “Even the usual frontal and frontoparietal recessions of the hair line failed to appear in the 3 males who had been castrated at 15 or 16 years of age when they still had Type 1 scalp hair. Failure of hair-line recession to develop in hese 3 males during the succeeding 16 to 17 years is noteworthy, since 94% of intact males would have acquired bare areas on at least the anterior scalp.
“The 14 males with small frontoparietal recessions at the time of orchiectomy did not acquire bare areas on the crown of the head or further extensions of frontal…recessions of the hairline.
“In the 3 subjects who had acquired MPB before orchiectomy no new nor expanded bare areas developed after castration.
“Regions of the scalp which are in the process of becoming bald, or are adjacent to bald areas, tend in intact males to be most susceptible to spread of baldness. The present observations clearly indicate that after castration such regions are no more prone to…MPB than are other portions of the scalp.”
But the kicker is the failure of castration to regrow much, if any, hair:
“The failure to regenerate coarse hairs was as definite in subjects with slight recession as in those with more pronounced recession…
“The lack of regrowth of coarse hairs in areas of frontal and frontoparietal recession of the hairline could not be attributed to a prolonged interval between sexual maturation and castration, since the lack of regrowth was as absolute in subjects castrated at the age of 16 to 20 years as in those not operated upon until the age of 30 to 38 years.”
And remember that of the three with balding in the crown, only one showed a little regrowth after many, many years.
“The present data are relevant to a previous report of 2 eunuchs who were bald when first seen by the author several years after their testes had been removed. In the years since the published photographs were taken, there has been no grossly recognizable addition to the number of coarse hairs. The period of time since castration is now 29 an 37 years, respectively.
“These studies of eunuchs indicate that, even in the absence of testicular secretions and of any detectable increase in androgens from extratesticular sources, regrowth of coarse hairs on the frontal hairline is nil if the hairs have been lost when the subject was young. Therefore in males who lose coarse hairs along the frontal hairline when young, anti-androgenic treatment probably has little remedial value.
“In contrast to the poor prognosis when MPB has been established in young men, prophylactic therapy might be rewarding. It now seems certain that castration entirely prevents development or extension of MPB.”
Let’s all debate about the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin…….(this question has historically served as a metaphor for wasting time debating topics of no practical value, for those who I’m afraid will begin a thread on the topic of angels and dancing)
the other confusing thing is that if something as strong and powerful like castration doesn’t stop or even halt genetic hairloss after it has started, then how can something very weak like propecia stop hairloss in some men, and even regrow in some? merck claims it works in 9 out of 10 men. is the a true statement or lies? its not like people take propecia before there hairloss starts, they usually do when they see thinning, and just take it to halt it or reverse some of the fine hairs. if castration doesn’t stop it then whats the whole point of propecia and wasting money?
The point is many men, myself included, have seen regrowth with propecia, so logically arguing about propecia versus castration is a bizarre and pointless topic unless you are forced to or considering castration.
If you want a suggestion however, remember that castration does not simply reduce conversion to DHT it blocks virtually all possible androgen production other than from the hypothalamus. It could be that blocking DHT conversion in some tissues may actually create a hormonal environment that leads to regrowth in some individuals. Or it could simply be that only some men due to a specific genetic ratio can regrow lost hairs and the studies on castration are simply too small to spot a correlation. If you castrated the same number of men as had ever tried propecia you might be able to make a true statistical analysis – but we can’t so as biotech says ‘we’re counting angels dancing on pinheads’.
paul your right, makes sense kinda, that castration block most testosterone but not the conversion to dht. But when you block 95% of testosterone there will be very little conversion to dht, so basically in reality castration bring dht levels down even more. what ever production one gets from the hypothalamus will be negligible withou the testicles being there as they produce the most source. the other wierd thing is there was a study done on how castration brings dht levels down to almost the same level as finasterid. 70% and testoerone to 95%. if that were true then its promising becuas eof finasteride lowers it to 70% as well.
what ever hair you have after castration would stay????