Alopecia and its relationship with hereditary genetics
Alopecia or hair loss, suffered by both men and women, can be due to different reasons, one of them being the genetic or hereditary factor. Therefore, baldness can occur due to genetic causes, but it is not a general rule and it is not the only reason for its appearance.
Among the hereditary alopecias are
Androgenetic: it is the most common type of baldness. It’s a thinning of the hair throughout the scalp and one of its reasons may be the hereditary factor. In androgenetic hair loss two factors influence, on the one hand the function of androgens or male hormones and on the other the hereditary factors. It is more frequent if there are other cases of androgenetic hair loss in the family.
Alopecia: it can occur at any age but, for some reason, it mainly affects adults under the age of 20 and causes uncovered areas of hair. It is believed to run in families and may be due to a malfunction of the immune system. Luckily, this disease is usually temporary, and hair grows back after about a year.
Types of alopecia due to hereditary diseases
Alopecia, which occurs in different types, is related to hereditary factors in some of its manifestations:
Among the non-scarring type alopecia, which are the most common and those that can be improved by applying hair surgery treatments, there is a type of alopecia that comes from hereditary syndromes such as congenital atrichia, Menkes syndrome.
Among the scarring type alopecia, in which hair loss is irreversible, there are also alopecia due to hereditary diseases, as a consequence of suffering from some type of congenital disease such as Mibelli’s porokeratosis, epidermal nevus, aplasia cutis, ichthyosis or Darier’s disease.
In any case, the most important thing is to go to a specialist in the hair field, such as Dr. Panno, immediately from the first moment that a hair loss is detected.