Is Baldness Hereditary? Well, Here Is the Answer
Is Baldness Hereditary? Well, Here Is the Answer
A number of theories try to explain the hereditary basis behind baldness especially in men and this holds much truth. Baldness is caused by loss of hair which is caused by weak muscles of the follicles. The loss of hair disorder can be passed on from one generation to another. This is where a family is composed of sons who take after their father. The symptoms of baldness starts to show early in the young boy but starts to take shape when the son gets to puberty. This information is coded in a specific gene which is passed from the father to the son during fertilization.DNA is responsible for this genetic transfer from parents to offspring.The gene has a sequence in their bases which dictates the amount of hormone testosterone which is produced. In this case, high amounts of this hormone are produced and this releases many free testosterone which gets to the circulation. Using blood as the transport medium, the hormone gets to the hairs follicles where they create shrinking effects hence the hair becomes weak and will easily fall off when disturbed by minor processes such as washing and combing.Variations do occur in some cases where the son does not take after his dad. In this case, the gene coding for high production of testosterone is dominated by a gene coding for normal levels of this hormone. In other cases, two identical twins are found to exhibit differences in baldness.One might have a vast region without hair and the other will have a small portion affected or absolutely no region of hair loss. This shows some kind of mutations where one gene changes slowly moving from one direction to another.This genetic knowledge has invited much research from scholars who are trying to translate or delete particular regions within the DNA strands having proteins responsible for baldness and inserting favorable protein sequences which are resistant to hair loss due to weakened follicles. This has paved way to effective methods which are used to treat baldness in those individuals who want to have their hair back.A normal person who does not have genes coding for this condition can also have this condition developing although this is rare. This is especially due to disorganization of the molecular proteins along the DNA strand. This can be caused by use of certain chemicals which acts on these genetic materials.