Hair Loss in the Mature Man
Reader Tom asks…
My hairline has been receding for a number of years, I am now 62 and recently had a heart attack. It seems to me that the hair loss has accelerated since that trauma. My hair now has sort of a trough down the middle that was not there before, but it was thinning. My question is, Can a heart attack cause acceleration of hair loss and can hair replacement techniques be employed to reverse it? Thank You
Hi Tom, thanks for writing.
There are generally four causes of hair loss in men. Genetic inheritance and male hormones are the two most important. Time and stress are the other two. Typically, genetic hair loss occurs well before 35 years of age, and in most people it slows down with time. There are some older men who start showing the hair loss over the age of 45, although this is more the exception to the rule. Don Ameche, a popular film actor in the 1930s and 40s, was a hairy sex idol even at the age of 50, but was bald at the age of 75 when he had a prominent role in the movie Cocoon. So, he had an ‘expression’ of his genetic balding late in life. Your heart attack certainly brought on ‘STRESS’ and with a delayed genetic expression, probably precipitated your hair loss. I have seen this in illness or even divorce, both of which are heavy stress induced initiators for hair loss in the genetically prone man.
As your hair loss is recent, I would probably recommend that you go on the drug Propecia, because continued hair loss is possible. This drug may slow or stop the progression of the hair loss and it might even reverse it. If it does not do the trick, then a hair transplant works wonderfully.
Hope this answers your question.
Unlike the 62 year old man, I’ll soon be 48 & my loss started about the age of 25, gradually. Now, I am about a VI hair loss on this website’s Norwood Scale & will this new minimal hair transplant I saw on Ch. 4, Bruce Hensel, work for me ? I think thre root cause(no pun intended !) is primarily stress. Many thanks in advance.
For 98% of men it is genetic plus it is made worse and accelerated by stress
I find it inconceivable that a man in his 60’s who just had a heart attack is complaining about his hair loss!!!! At such an old age, the majority of the male population has experienced moderate to severe hair loss if not impotence and/or sterility. I am a 22 year old guy and noticed the beginning stages of thinning in high school. I still have hair but the progression of follicle miniaturization is slowly mimicking the stages of male pattern baldness most likely following my preordained genetic timetable for this phenomenon. If I sound bitter it is because I am. I once had a full head of hair even though my hair has been very thin since I was born. I have an attractive face but since my hair has begun thinning it has been much more difficult to find girls around my age that are interested in me as a potential mate. I’m not sure if this lack of interest in me is due to my damaged confidence level, my receding hairline, thinning hair, or a combination of the latter. This posting was added to the site in 2005, which makes the old man complaining about his hair now 64 years of age if he is still alive. This old man has taken his head of hair for granted and is now beginning to understand the psychological effects this can have. It’s a good thing this old man will probably die soon if he’s already had a heart attack. This is cold-hearted to say, but I have absolutely zero sympathy for this old man. If still alive, the focus of the old mans life should be on his heart and diet. If you consider losing your hair to be one of your life’s worst experiences at the age of 62 then you should consider yourself very lucky. I was under the impression that older adults/seniors do not harp on how others view them. Shame on you old man, you should be a role model instead of a lard infested man who has no idea.
better go transplant
https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/hair-loss/features/women-hair-loss-causes
https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/hair-loss/features/women-hair-loss-causes