Male Pattern Baldness
There are 7 classes of Male Pattern Baldness. The good news is – hair restoration techniques are available to help men in almost all of these stages.
Toronto Hair Transplant Surgeons are internationally known for our pioneering work in hair transplantation.
Why Men Care About Hair Loss
For a lot of men, losing their hair doesn’t just affect their self-esteem but it can also become a real source of embarrassment. Whenever hair loss is mentioned, they might get very uptight and want to get off the subject as fast possible. But why is this?
Well there’s no one reason but a big part of the problem is that hair loss is not considered to be a topic that’s out of bounds when it comes to playful mocking amongst friends. In other words, a guy who’s losing his hair might be very sensitive about it but has to put on a brave face when he’s around his friends and they bring it up.
This can turn something that’s already quite a touchy issue into something that they’re deathly afraid of discussing. This is why a lot of guys who are losing their hair resort to wearing a baseball cap for the majority of the time – they simply don’t want to deal with the comments.
It’s not just because of remarks from other people that hair loss can cause embarrassment though. Guys can very easily become self-conscious about their hair loss even if nobody has ever said anything to them about it. Because hair is such a fundamental part of our appearance, it can cause a lot of stress when it starts to thin out.
Not every guy reacts to hair loss negatively of course, but plenty do and for those guys they will often do anything they can to halt it.
What can be done about hair loss?
When it comes to treating hair loss, there are 3 main options available. The first is to take one of the Health Canada and FDA-approved medications available for halting hair loss. These are finasteride (Propecia) and minoxidil (Rogaine). They work in different ways but both have been proven to slow down male pattern baldness for a significant percentage of men.
Secondly, there are non-surgical options such as low-level laser therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP).
Lastly is a hair transplant. Hair transplant techniques have come on leaps and bounds since the dark days of the infamous “plug” transplants of the 70s and early 80s. Nowadays, individual hair follicles can be taken from the back and sides of the patient’s head and transplanted to the thinning areas, allowing for great coverage and completely natural looking head of hair.
Male Pattern Baldness
The images below show the different categories of male pattern baldness or hair loss as well as the hair restoration and hair replacement options suitable for each category.
Our Results
Toronto Hair Transplant Surgeons are internationally known for our pioneering hair transplantation work.
Our huge archive is here to help you see what we can do for you. Use the link below to view some sample cases.
Class 1 Male Pattern Baldness
Men with what is considered to be Class 1 hair loss have not lost any appreciable amount of hair, so surgical hair restoration is not likely the solution. Medications and topical treatments such as Finasteride or Minoxidil are options as are PRP and low-level laser therapy options.
Class 2 Male Pattern Baldness
Men with Class 2 hair loss are usually experiencing the beginnings of frontal temporal hair erosion that may become quite severe in 5-10 years. Hair transplantation is usually a viable option. In consultation, Dr. Jones, Dr. Huber, or Dr. Alexander will determine whether or not you are a candidate for hairline micrografts. They will take into account your age, family history, amount of hair loss, type and texture of hair, and amount and quality of donor hair available in developing their prognosis and treatment plan.
Class 3 Male Pattern Baldness
Men with Class 3 hair loss are experiencing accelerating hair loss that often becomes severe in 5-7 years. Hair transplantation is usually an option. In consultation, Dr. Jones, Dr. Huber, or Dr. Alexander will determine whether or not you are a candidate for hair restoration procedures, and if you are, will discuss those options with you.
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Class 4 Male Pattern Baldness
Men with Class 4 hair loss are experiencing substantial frontal temporal recession and, often, a pronounced and ever enlarging “bald spot” toward the back of the head. Some men choose natural, permanent Hair transplantation. In consultation Dr. Jones, Dr. Huber, or Dr. Alexander will determine whether or not you are a candidate for hair restoration procedures and based on your existing hair, which procedure is best suited for the desired results.
Class 5 Male Pattern Baldness
Men with Class 5 hair loss are experiencing a very severe frontal temporal recession and, often, a pronounced and ever-enlarging “bald spot” toward the back of the head. Some men choose natural, permanent hair transplantation. In consultation, Dr. Jones, Dr. Huber, or Dr. Alexander will determine whether or not you are a candidate for hair restoration procedures and based on your existing hair, which procedure is best suited for the desired results.
Class 6 Male Pattern Baldness
Men with Class 6 hair loss are experiencing a very severe frontal temporal recession and an extremely large “bald spot” toward the back of the head. Based on the severity and extent of the hair loss, your existing hairline and donor areas will be assessed in consultation with our doctors at the Toronto Hair Transplant Surgeons. They will examine your hair loss and work with you to explore the best options for hair restoration if you are a suitable candidate for a procedure.
Class 7 Male Pattern Baldness
Men with Class 7 hair loss may be candidates for some transplantation procedures. With a limited donor site, usually, only the hairline can be recreated leaving the crown area bald.
Top Causes Of Hair Loss
Some men are quick to blame their parents for that thinning crown or the balding scalp. Although genetics are a big factor in men’s hair loss, there are a variety of other causes of hair loss in men.
Exercise and Hormones
Exercising is good for our heart, and our waistline, but is high-resistance training good for our hair? Sadly, that warrior regiment may be causing a spike in testosterone, which can ultimately result in hair loss.
The same goes for Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED’s) and testosterone for muscle gain. If used when suffering from any sort of hereditary male pattern hair loss, it becomes a double threat. It’s been well documented that testosterone in the body is converted to DHT dihyrotestosterone.
DHT is a bully to hair follicles susceptible to baldness and is the primary trigger that causes hair follicles to miniaturize beyond repair—causing receding hairlines and crown balding.
Your Scalp and Autoimmune Diseases
Scalp inflammation is the body’s response to intruding microorganisms. The most common contributing factor to this is the overproduction of sebum. When your hair roots get clogged it can result in itchiness or flakiness.
Inflammation of the scalp has been scientifically shown to interrupt and impair healthy hair growth. Overgrowth of fungus or yeast at the scalp (that feed on the natural oils or sebum your scalp secretes naturally) can turn into redness and irritation.
And of course, there’s alopecia areata, a condition where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks it’s own hair follicles. When this occurs, other cells or tissues important to hair growth and maintenance become causalities. This results in hair loss of various kinds including cicatricial alopecia and telogen effluvium (which occurs when hair’s growth cycle is disrupted). It’s a complete interruption of the hair fibre production.
Smoking and Exhaustion
We all know it and have known it, cigarettes kill and they also affect one’s hair, slowly. Every inhalation of any tobacco product creates a stranglehold on the tiny blood vessels in your skin, starving those skin cells—and hair follicles—of vital nutrients like oxygen etc and leaving toxins in its place. Before you know it, the effects of smoking will be evident on your skin and in your hair.
As important as it is to avoid toxins in your life it’s also imperative that you get enough sleep. Most people need at least 7 hours of sleep per night, which is necessary for the body and mind for repair. Science suggests that when our biologic clocks become disrupted, our hair follicle growth cycles may become affected too.
