acquired progressive kinking of the hair

inkt · Sep 25, 2007

i'm about a nw2, but my situation isn't helped by the fact that the front 1/4rd of my hair is slowly thinning but also has this thing called 'acquired progressive kinking of the hair'.

basically the hair on the sides of my head and everywhere else other than the front are quite light brown and even blonde, but the affected area is much darker and is sort of turning into pubic-hair-type hair. i think the APK has been happening since about 15/16. i can distincting remember age 18 thinking, "hey hand about, why is the hair on top of my head different from the rest? am i balding?" but i just sort shrugged it off because no-one in my family has gone beyond a nw3 (and that's only 1 person in their 70s). my hair was definitely not receded or thinning then though.

since around 20 i think the hair has actually been falling out, from the areas that were affected by the kinking since i was 15/16. i'm 21 now and a dermatologist pointed me on the fact that i have acquired progressive kinking of the hair. the rest of my hair is light brown/blonde, shiny and straight. if i could get the front hair like this - receding or not - i would be very happy. i pretty much still have my old hairline (but thinner), it's just the fact that this hair is completely different from the rest of my hair emphasizes the problem. right now i have to wax and mess up all my hair (something i don't really want to do) so that you can't see the difference. if i was receding the same as i was now, but with my normal hair all over it would hardly be noticeable.

here's the blurb:

ACQUIRED PROGRESSIVE KINKING OF THE HAIR
Background Acquired progressive kinking of the hair (APKH) is a relatively rare condition, with fewer than 20 cases reported in the literature. Whether APKH is a separate entity or a variety of androgenetic alopecia is still controversial. This study reviews the clinical and pathological features and long-term follow-up of 7 patients with APKH.

Observations Since January 1989, we have diagnosed APKH in 7 males aged 15 to 22 years. All patients had strong family history for androgenetic alopecia. Hair kinking affected the frontotemporal region and/or the vertex where the hair appeared curly, frizzy, and lusterless. The pathological features of the affected scalp were consistent with the diagnosis of the early stages of androgenetic alopecia. In all patients, APKH evolved into androgenetic alopecia during the follow-up period. Mean follow-up was 4.5 years (range, 2-9 years). Treatment with topical minoxidil did not prevent development of hair thinning in the scalp areas affected by hair kinking.

Conclusions The term acquired progressive kinking of the hair encompasses a number of conditions characterized by acquired curling of the scalp hair. Acquired hair kinking on the androgen-dependent areas of the scalp represents a modality of onset of androgenetic alopecia associated with poor prognosis.

despite me having a very good family male pattern baldness genes, this is pretty much what the dermatologist told me. i'm about to start on propecia, and i was wondering see that APK is andogren related - will i see an improvement in this kinked hair? this would help my situation 100%. if my hairloss maintained even, but i had markedly improved hair itself i would be a very happy camper.

not sure if anyone here actually has this (only 30 cases reported?! i guess a lot of people just didn't diagnose it), but from the description could anyone help me out about this? i'm going on propecia regardless don't worry, but it would ease my mind if there was a good chance my hair might return to straight and shiny again... receding or not!

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