I read an article a while back that said resaerchers had found that acne was actually caused by a bacteria or fungal infection within the pores not an internal cause as previously thought.
Could it be, with Hair loss that resaerchers are only focusing on internal causes such as the DHT and actually overlooking other external causes like some kind of Fungal Folliculitis of the scalp that eats away at the folicles? Where does the DHT come from and why can’s we stop it?
Anything is possible, but the explanation you offered has not come to the forefront. I would not be surprised if there were other mediators for hair loss that make hair loss show up in one person and not another. We are not well informed enough to go there just yet.
This is what we know (taken from an article by Dr. David Whiting, a widely acknowledged leading researcher/dermatologist): “Testosterone and dihydrotestosterone can circulate systemically to follicles, or be manufactured locally in the follicle from circulating weak androgens (dehydroepiandro-sterone and androstenediol) via complex enzyme-mediated processes involving specific dehydrogenase and reductase enzyme pathways. All of these enzyme reactions are dependent upon specific pyridine cofactors. It is clear that reductase, dehydrogenase, and probably aromatase enzymes are of major importance in hair growth as they mediate the complex interchange of sex hormones implicated in anagen activity.”
That is the biochemistry of DHT (dihydrotestosterone).
Being a 5th year medical student, you should know that hair loss after taking one pill of finasteride is not likely related to finasteride itself. It takes weeks if not months for the effects of finasteride to show.