Category: Age

My 3 year-old son had a freak accident involving our treadmill about 7 weeks ago, and sustained several severe abrasions — one on his scalp. His head is mostly healed, except for a small spot in the middle; the surrounding area is pink, with no sign of hair regrowth as of yet.

My question is: how deep would the abrasion have to be to affect the hair follicles? How long should we expect to wait to know whether regrowth may occur?

The wounds that are deep enough to cut the hair follicle below the level of the skin may cause permanent hair loss, but in a classic abrasion, the hair should grow back. I would wait it out for a good 6-8 months before worrying about it. Hair loss could also be seen with any surgical scar that cuts or injures hair shafts below the skin level or if the skin edges separate and are not closed with sutures. Superficial abrasions may cause hair loss temporarily. This latter type of hair loss usually re-grows in a matter of a few months. If your son does not grow his hair back in those areas in 6-8 months, he may have lost it permanently. This type of balding spots could be excised or transplanted with hair successfully.

I was wondering Testosterone levels are supposed to be highest when men are in their 20’s, yet for most men the effects of DHT are not seen until later. Do men have more DHT as they get older (past the 20’s), even though produce less testosterone? Do men develop more DHT receptor sites when older or produce more 5AR enzyme when older to convert testosterone to DHT? They don’t have these DHT receptor sites in the scalp when younger, just older? Like a cancer that just appears after so many cell divisions and the genes reach a certain point? LOL, well just wondering why men have more DHT (hormone) when older if produce more testosterone when younger, I’m sure a lot of other people would be interested in that information, Thank you very much for any info or sites that may have info!

You ask a very good and interesting question. You sound like you are just about to take a biochemistry exam. Unless I am mistaken, DHT levels will correspond with testosterone levels. Generally, less testosterone (an aging problem) should produce less DHT. The reason why you see balding men who are older (when testosterone levels are relatively lower than their younger years) is that it is likely a late expression of the genes that affect hair loss. On a counter note, most balding men will report that their hair loss began in their late teenage years (when their testosterone levels were the highest).

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I have minor hair loss, but it happened and is still happening during a long period of time. Last winter, i realized there was hair loss on my hair line. I have this skin condition, but my skin doctor told me that it wouldn’t make my hair disappear. I’m 15, and I don’t know what this is. Most of my family (that know about it) say that my hair isn’t disappearing but this is MY body and i know what changes are happening. Now, i have once inch of hair missing from my hair line, more hair above my ears, and the back of my neck. When my hair disappears, it does at night and sometimes after i take a shower. My hair grew very rapidly over a short period of time, and i don’t know what this is. Please, help me.

If what you are saying is that you lose hair at night because you see it on the pillow, you should do a hair count on those hairs you find. The average person loses about 100 hairs per day and regrows that number from below the skin. If you calculate this out, you will see that in three years, the 100,000 hairs on the head (losing them 100/day) will recycle. Get a good doctor who understands hair and teenagers and go about the analysis properly.