Alopecia

Question
QUESTION: I'm afraid I am going to lose my hair. I am currently 18 and having pretty thick, frizzy hair, in a huge quantity (though my body hair remains normal). It was straight when I was a child, then it went super-frizzy and now goes back to curly (well still frizzy though).

However, I am scared I could lose it, since my mother has lost a lot of density through years. She however told me she lost her hair because of pregnancy (twice) and because of both her parent's death, which occured in her early 20s. Also, her sister's children experienced hair loss, her daughter looks normal but she lost her hair in bunches, and her son is going bald. They all have thin hair, by the way.

I don't think it could come from their father, which doesn't lose his hair.

So I am wondering; am I likely to lose my hair too ? Since my mother hair never grew back, and other cases appeared in my family ?

I must add that my father has all his hair left, without any baldness case in his family, and I inherited his hair texture(thick) , but I have naturally light brown hair, same as my mother.

Does it mean I will keep it all my life ? Or is my mother's "alopecia" not a genetic disease ?



Please help me, I am really worried about losing my huge hair.



ANSWER: It seems you are worried you may have inherited the genes that cause baldness. It is possible you inherited all or none of the genes from both your mother and father and could have the most baldness or the most hair in the family. Only recently has it been possible to get a gene test to find out. You can order the test kit and mail it back for testing. It takes about two or three weeks to get the answer.  Go to

www.hairdx.com    or  http://hairdx.com/GeneticTestFemale.aspx

 



Your mother has experienced episodes of Telogen Effluvium, shedding of hair due to stress.

learn more about that here:

http://dermnetnz.org/hair-nails-sweat/telogen-effluvium.html



Losing hair in bunches may be Alopecia Areata which is an auto immune illness.

 You can read about that here:

www.AlopeciaAreata.com  and  http://dermnetnz.org/hair-nails-sweat/alopecia-areata.html



Inherited balding seems to be on both your mother's side as well as from your father so there is a good chance you have inherited some bald genes.



http://dermnetnz.org/hair-nails-sweat/pattern-balding.html



More on androgentic alopecia in French :

Cr?ez l'article ? Androg?n?tique alop?cie ? sur ce wiki ! V?rifiez auparavant dans les r?sultats ci-dessous que le sujet n'y a pas d?j? ?t? trait?.



   * Alop?cie ou calvitie chez la femme (section Alop?cie androg?n?tique chez la femme avant la m?nopause)

     Alop?cie androg?n?tique chez la femme avant la m?nopause : L'alop?cie androg?n?tique correspond ? une chute progressive et d?finitive des ...

     5 Kio (730 mots) - 1 d?cembre 2009 ? 12:32

   * Traitement de la calvitie androg?n?tique chez la femme

     Le traitement de la calvitie androg?n?tique chez la femme est l'utilisation de ... cheveu x chez les femmes atteintes d'alop?cie androg?nique. ...

     4 Kio (541 mots) - 23 octobre 2009 ? 00:19

   * Alop?cie (section Traitement de la calvitie androg?n?tique)

     En dermatologie , l alop?cie d?signe l'acc?l?ration de la chute des cheveu x et/ou ... L'alop?cie androg?n?tique ou calvitie chez l'homme ...

     6 Kio (735 mots) - 22 janvier 2010 ? 16:52

   * Greffe de cheveux (section ?volutivit? chronique de l?alop?cie androg?n?tique (AAG) )

     ?volutivit? chronique de l?alop?cie androg?n?tique (AAG) ... Le plus souvent il s?agira d?une alop?cie androg?nique, mais il faudra aussi ...

     13 Kio (1 829 mots) - 18 novembre 2009 ? 22:00







---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------



QUESTION: Thanks very much ! Actually I don't know why my father could have baldness genes, since no-one ever experienced baldness in his family (never ever)..And I have much, thick hair.

ONLY my mother's side have thin hair, except my maternal grandfather, who had a full set of hair. What I wanted to know is that my mother suffered this hair loss because of her stress, or because of genetics ?



So how could I ever inherit baldness genes from a father who never lost his hair ?

I am sorry I don't get it. If there are baldness genes, only my mother has them, or how can my father have them when he has a full set of thick, curly hair ?


Answer
 You can inherit bald genes from your mother. In order to have baldness you need the genes plus exposure to androgens. Women also produce androgens but not enough to cause the bald spots seen in men. Instead they gradually get thin diffusely. If your mother inherited bald genes from her mother and her mother did the same, then you would have to look back at least to your great grandfather before seeing a man with baldness. It is impossible to know from looking at you now whether you inherited those genes. There is a very good chance you have escaped the bald genes, especially since you mother seems to have lost hair due to stress. If you worry about this even before seeing any hair loss you will only cause yourself stress and then may end up having a telogen effluvium due to stress you could have avoided.