Androgenetic Alopecia/male pattern baldness and allergies

[benjt]

Hi everyone,

some of you might've already seen my thread on modelling and understanding the hair loss process. By now, I've read approx. 100 scientific papers on Androgenetic Alopecia/male pattern baldness. It turns out that the profile of Androgenetic Alopecia/male pattern baldness is suprisingly similar to that of typical pollen allergies. In both cases, the immune system is overly sensitive and aggressive. In both cases, it releases huge amounts of PGD-2. In both cases, the initial trigger and root cause is still unknown.
Furthermore, people with pollen allergies have a far more reactive, sensitive and aggressive immune system in general. And as everybody knows, this is at least locally the case in Androgenetic Alopecia/male pattern baldness.

Thus, I would like to explore this matter a bit. For this I need as many people as possible to fill out the following sheet and post it here:


Norwood: [0-7]
Professional allergy test results: yes/no

Allergies:
Rye: [0-6]/uknown
Goosefoots/chenopodium: [0-6]/uknown
Alder: [0-6]/uknown
Birch: [0-6]/uknown
Oak: [0-6]/uknown
Salix caprea (goat willow/great sallow): [0-6]/uknown
Anthoxanthum odoratum (vernal grass/buffalo grass): [0-6]/uknown
Ryegrass (not rye!) (Lollum): [0-6]/uknown
Timothy-grass (Phleum pratense): [0-6]/uknown
Holcus lanatus (Yorkshire fog/tufted grass/meadow soft grass/velvet grass): [0-6]/uknown
Artemisia vulgaris (mugwort or common wormwood): [0-6]/uknown
Plantago lanceolata (ribwort plantain, English plantain, buckhorn plantain, narrowleaf plantain): [0-6]/uknown
Hazel: [0-6]/uknown


If you did not have a professional allergy test, but know some answers, please fill them in according to your own evaluation. Either way, state in the sheet whether you had a professional allergy test or not.

 

[BrightonBaldy]

cant contribute personally but perhaps somebody who uses multiple forums could circulate this along with your original work, bring people with known allergies here

 

[Sparky4444]

well...I'm Norwood 3 diffuse thinning...I have allergies like crazy....in fact the last couple of years, I regularly breakout in hives for no apparent reason...the last couple of years my hair has thinned super aggressively...

I had allergy tests when I was 5 years old....dogs, cats, smoke, etc, etc...it's worsened, like I said, the last couple of years

...the pollen related allergies are there as well...

 

[odalbak]

I have an allergy to male pattern baldness…

Seriously, the only allergy I ever had was to pollen. I tamed it by putting one tiny bit of pollen on my tongue everyday. It was pollen available in wholefood stores

 

[peacemaker]

I believe allergy plays a huge part. However, I doubt that a specific type of allergy would be correlated with alopecia. It is really interesting tho to note that my dad and I both have slight asthma. We both have receding hairlines (my dad has nw3, i currently have Norwood 2). On the other hand, my older brother is not allergic to anything I know and doesn't have asthma. He has a Norwood 0.

Also, I forgot to mention... my friend has a heavy asthma and has to take medication everyday. He is about to be bald as he is diffuse balding very fast.

 

[benjt]

odalbak, most of the things mentioned on that sheet are some form of pollen

In general, if you don't have specific test values, just give an overall estimate for your allergies from "not at all" to "like a mother****er". I'm trying to establish whether the average allergy severity is linked with the severity of the balding process (though that would also require the person's age; forgot to add that to the sheet).


I just see two big connections here:
1) Immune system hypersensitivity both in allergies and in male pattern baldness/Androgenetic Alopecia. In both cases, the immune system just has a problem with a lot of the respective substances around. In the case of allergies, the immune system triggers a reaction even though the pollen themselves are not harmful. Same for DHT: Immune system triggers a reaction to something that is per se not harmful. Just the immune system thinks that too much of the stuff being around needs to be battled.
2) In people with allergies, the immune system is more alert anyway, AND they have higher concentrations of PGD-2 in their blood.

 

[Sterling Q.]

odalbak, most of the things mentioned on that sheet are some form of pollen

In general, if you don't have specific test values, just give an overall estimate for your allergies from "not at all" to "like a mother****er". I'm trying to establish whether the average allergy severity is linked with the severity of the balding process (though that would also require the person's age; forgot to add that to the sheet).

This is a really interesting investigation. I can't fill out a detailed sheet but I can share some observations for what its worth.

I had bad allergies (hay fever every fall) until my early 20s. Didn't notice hair loss until I was 30. Temple recession had begun in late 20s but not enough to realize what was happening. Overall my loss is slow paced but has picked up lately. Stress is high but I have not had allergy problems for over a decade. (Bad allergies until early 20s, hair loss became noticeable in 30s and is relatively slow).

A very good friend of mine had horrible allergies through his teen years (got allergy shots). He starting balding in high school and was cue ball by 30. It runs in his family. (Horrible allergies until young adult, very aggressive hair loss at young age and bald by 30).

Another good friend of mine starting getting allergies for the first time in his early 30s. He is late 30s and his hair is the same as when he was in high school. (Adult onset bad allergies, no hair loss).

My dad has bad allergies and thinned slowly his whole life and his crown was not totally bald until late 60s. (Sustained bad allergies, slow but complete loss on crown).

In this very small sample allergy severity would likely be correlated with hair loss severity, but there is a temporal component that throws things off. In two of the examples allergies stop, but hair loss does not. In another example allergies started later in life but there is no evidence of hair loss.

 

[Sparky4444]

my dad is cue-ball bald and started thinning at 21...not even close to an allergy, the guy is as tough as a tractor....same with my grandfather

 

[Helios]

My dad doesn't have allergies and i don't have allergies........well except for mosquito bites.

 

[brunobald]

Thinning in a norwood 7 pattern. No allergy im aware of but my scalp is inflammed/itchy and I buy into the fact that baldness could be caused by a process like an allergy. Looks like individual follicules are pre programmed to secret a substance that causes the body to attack them, why this evolved I have no idea.

 

[Chromeo]

This was already discussed quite a bit when Cetirizine was the hot topic. I've been plagued by allergies all my life...cats, dogs, pollen, dust. I also had asthma when I was younger. I do believe there could be some connection, but of course not all people who have allergies will be bald, and not all bald people will have allergies.

 

[benjt]

Well, some people might have some allergies without knowing. The last time I really had a hard time w/ allergies was in another country.
Anyway, a single NW7 who has confirmedly no allergies at all would already disprove my theory.

Even if there is no correlation, the pattern is still very similar: unnecessary immune reaction leading to PGD-2 increase and inflammation; only in Androgenetic Alopecia, it is unfortunately a permanent state.

 

[abcdefg]

I asked about this a long time ago. Coincidences dont always correlate to cause/effect and I think it might just be that. The immune system is probably a big player in male pattern baldness at some point though I just dont know if allergies are in there, but you never know. No proof yet.

 

[seemus]

question.if immune system is a big player, then can it be construed that male pattern baldness's offset can be prevented by taking small doses of steriods early on?

 

[benjt]

Why do you think that? Are you thinking in terms of sensitization therapy?