Hair cycle and alopecia.

Courtois M, Loussouarn G, Hourseau C, Grollier JF.

L'Oreal Laboratories RAD, Clichy, France.

Male pattern alopecia is the outcome of profound modifications in the duration, succession and frequency of hair cycles. These phenomena were studied by phototrichogram in 10 male subjects, with or without alopecia, over a period of 15 years.

Almost 10,000 hair cycles were accounted for, yielding a detailed picture of the alopecia condition:

(1) A decrease in the duration of anagen for a certain proportion of hairs, a proportion which increases in size, the more advanced the alopecia; the result of this premature transformation from anagen to telogen is an increase in the rate of hair loss.

(2) A parallel decline in hair diameter.

(3) Longer latency periods between the fall of a hair and the onset of regrowth, leading to a reduction in the number of hairs present on the scalp surface.

The shorter finer hairs are absent more frequently and absent for longer periods and this contributes to the effect of alopecia.