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“Ugly are hornless bulls, a field without grass is an eyesore, So is a tree without leaves, so is a head without hair.” – Ovid, The Art of Love.
ale baldness may be a joke on TV, in the movies, and at parties, but for the many young men who face the prospect of premature baldness, and who literally grasp at every lost hair, it is no joke at all. It can be a source of great anxiety, a personal loss, and a profoundly depressing experience, forcing a young man to revise his self-image. To some the fountain of youth is no more than a head full of dead protein threads.
Would it comfort you to know that Caesar was bald? Did Yul Brunner and Kojak look as if they suffered?
The hirsute male has forever been a symbol of virility and physical strength. The biblical Samson, the Greek Hercules, Zeus, and Poseidon were men and gods of prodigious strength and were usually represented as powerful, hairy, and bearded. But so are gorillas!
Male pattern baldness, which continues to be one of man’s greatest fears, affects well over half the adult male population in America and is so common that we consider some degree of hair loss in adult males as normal. Would it console you to know that hair loss has absolutely no adverse effect on virility? Or on potency? Or on strength? Would it help you to know there are some disadvantages to long hair? It can obstruct your vision. It collects dandruff and, occasionally, small creatures such as lice! The only harmful effect of premature hair loss is psychological. It may encourage loss of confidence and, with it, anxiety, stress, and depression.
The cause and extent of male baldness, while not completely understood, depend on three factors: inheritance, age, and male hormones. If your parents and/or grandparents had this bald trait, the chances are that you will inherit it. Once begun, it is a progressive condition; the older you get, the more hair you will lose.
You’ll be surprised to know that when you get bald, you actually don’t lose any of your hair. In fact, you go to the grave with the same number of hair follicles with which you were born! What the balding man loses are the longer, darker, coarser hairs that have been replaced with soft, downy fuzz, called vellus hairs.
Medical science so far has been helpless in reversing, arresting, or curing this pattern. There is, however, a great deal of research going on in an attempt to fatten up and lengthen those downy, vellus hairs. A recent study, however, has found that a protein – vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) – helps the body grow blood vessels. And since blood circulation is associated with hair growth, it may be that this new experimental drug – made into a cream, lotion or ointment – will help men grow longer and thicker hairs, replacing the small, downy peach fuzz. It’s working in mice; it might work in humans. We are working on it. . . .
And, lest you be sadly misled, there are no salves, lotions, shampoos, vitamins, or natural food supplements that will grow hair where there are no hair follicles. Hair “restorers” are for the birds – not for the scalp.
Years ago, it was demonstrated that the female hormone estrogen, when rubbed into the scalp, could lengthen the peach fuzz appreciably and slow down or reduce the rate of pattern baldness. Men, however, should think twice about the side effects of estrogen. Do you want larger breasts? A high-pitched voice? A diminished sexual appetite? Or would you rather grin and bare it?
There are, however, two drugs –– that have shown some limited promise. One, minoxidil, has been used orally for people who are afflicted with severe high blood pressure. How minoxidil - the brand name is Rogaine - helps high blood pressure – or how it helps grow hair – is not precisely known. It probably acts as a vasodilator; a chemical that expands blood vessels, bringing nourishing blood to normally deprived hair follicle cells.
Among oral minoxidil’s many undesirable side effects is hypertrichosis – the growth of excess hair – that is noted in about 80 percent of the patients taking the drug. What dermatologists have done has been to “tame” this powerful chemical and have fashioned it into a lotion which, when rubbed into bald spots, grows hair in those areas.
The latest reports show that young men, under the age of 26, who are using this product – Rogaine – do much better than older men; it rarely works at all for a receding hairline; it can best restore hair on the crown of the head but not at the temples; the hairs – if any – that do grow, are little more than wispy; and no one in the studies that were performed developed a full head of hair. If you are interested, ask your dermatologist about it. It is a non-prescription medication; it is relatively expensive; and must be used forever: when it is discontinued, any hair that had begun to grow will fall out within three or four months. The very rare adverse side effects include fainting, vomiting, rapid heartbeat, and difficulty in breathing.
Another newly approved drug is finasteride. This oral medication – the trade name is Propecia – is purported to grow hair successfully in balding men. The side effects of finasteride are minimal, but if a man embarks on this method of treatment, it must be kept up forever. (As an aside, finasteride – under the name of Proscar – is also used in men who suffer from enlarged prostate glands.)
So what does that leave for the despondent young man? A hair transplant? A wig? Or the confidence in knowing that bald may be beautiful. That the high brow, the egghead and the “chrome dome,” – the marks of internal wisdom – are “in.”
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For further information about hair loss, log on to: www.aad.org 1-888-462-DERM x22 or www.familydoctor.org/handouts/061.html |
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