Do You Have A Receding Hairline?

How your age causes your hairline to recede?

It is a fact that having a receding hairline is always related to your age. This will result in significant hair loss and alopecia in most cases and may require you to have regular medications. Generally, women are less likely to have a receding hairline. Instead, they experience thinning of hair as they age along with some conditions like traction alopecia and frontal fibrosing alopecia.

What are the symptoms of a receding hairline?

As far as men are concerned, a receding hairline can show up any time once they reach the end of their puberty. This happens mostly by their late 30’s. In most cases, hairline first begins to recede above the temples. Then it begins to move back transversely to the top leaving a ring of hair around the top exposing a bare scalp.

In some other cases, after starting above the temples, a receding hairline progresses in such a manner that hair in the middle remains closer to the forehead forming a V-shaped hair growth in the front side which is often referred to as a “widow’s peak”.

Usually, the hair on the backside and on the side are kept intact even if you have a receding hairline problem. In women also, the back and side are usually spared, but the hair thinning increases over the top of your head.

What produces a receding hairline?

Keep in mind that hair loss is a natural phenomenon as far as the amount of hair lost is only around 100 to 150 per day. This will not give you a receding hairline because you have around one lakh hair follicles on your scalp and when hair falls out from them, new hair gets replaced continuously. A receding hairline appears only when your hair follicles are damaged permanently or you have some medical condition which inhibits your hair growth on the scalp. Some of the common causes for developing a receding hairline are explained below:

1. Family history

The main culprit behind your receding hairline is your hereditary. When you inherit certain traits from your parents or grandparents, which causes your hair follicles to be too sensitive to certain male hormones, there is very little you can do to prevent the formation of a receding hairline as you age. It is interesting to note that even the timing of such hair loss is found to be similar in succeeding generations.

2. Hormonal changes

As compared to male pattern hair loss, the relationship of hormones in female pattern hair loss is less clear. But it is found that major hormonal changes, such as the one induced by menopause in a woman, may cause some thinning of hair.

How is the diagnosis of a receding hairline done?

Diagnosis of a receding hairline should always be done by a dermatologist. He might need your medical and family history in order to diagnose the hair loss you are experiencing.

A test usually done by dermatologists to diagnose receding hairline is called a “pull test”. To perform this test, your doctor simply pulls on your hair to see if they fall out easily.

Another option for diagnosing a receding hairline is performing the biopsy of your hair or scalp tissues. This will also help your dermatologist to diagnose if you have any scalp infection which is causing hair loss. The basic procedure of a biopsy consists of removing a small tissue from the affected area of the body and examining it in a lab for signs of any disease. In case thyroid issues are causing your hair loss, the doctor may ask you to do a blood test so that he can examine your thyroid profile.

Treatment for receding hairline

Sometimes, underlying medical problems can cause hair loss leading to receding hairline. If this is your case, you might need to take medications. Some medications advised in such situations are listed below:

Medications

If you have an overactive immune system attacking your scalp hair follicles, a medication called prednisone can help you to suppress it and prevent further hair loss. Apart from this, minoxidil is also seen to help in slowing down and reversing hair loss. This is an over-the-counter liquid medication for applying on the scalp. This medication is found to be more effective when applied on smaller sections of the scalp where hair loss is observed. Another effective drug to prevent hair loss is finasteride. Keep in mind that this drug can reduce your sex drive and may make you more prone to prostate cancer.

Surgery

Some people also prefer hair restoration surgery as a treatment option for receding hairline. Such a surgery basically involves the transplanting of hair follicles from the back side to the front side of the head where there is no hair. These follicles are usually transplanted along with skin and once they are successfully transplanted, new hair will start to grow from them.

Bottom line

To be exact, a receding hairline is always a precursor for you getting bald if it has a tendency to progress further to the top of your head. It is not always easy to predict how far such hair receding will go. The easier way to get a hint about this is to look at your parents or siblings. Once you doubt of having a receding hairline, make sure to consult your dermatologist as early as possible so that early measures to avoid further hair loss can be taken.