How to Tell if You Have a Receding Hairline
If you just noticed that your temples are getting more pronounced or you have the feeling that your forehead has grown, maybe it’s time to consider that your hairline is receding. Having a receding hairline is one of the first signs of alopecia, and while this may happen to both men and women, it is way more likely in men.
What causes a receding hairline?
Many factors can lead someone to experience a receding hairline, from a stressful lifestyle and medications to a hormonal imbalance and poor nutrition.
However, for most men, a receding hairline is probably the first red flag of androgenetic alopecia. Also known as male pattern hair loss (MPHL), this inherited condition occurs when the hair follicles develop a sensitivity to the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT), an androgenic hormone that triggers hair loss in men. When DHT is interacting with the hair follicles, the sensitivity causes hair growth to slow down or stop.
How to tell if your hairline is receding
One of the first signs of MPHL is the recession of the frontal hairline. In some men, the hairline slightly moves backward (losing less than one inch), though others may suffer a more extreme recession. It is normal to spot some differences in the hairline as people get older. But it is important to recognize if these changes are occurring as an inevitable result of aging or if these are trying to tell us something else.
When the frontal hairline has receded evenly, it’s probably because the hairline has matured. On the other hand, when the hairline recedes asymmetrically, that is, when there is an obvious difference between the two sides, perhaps this means the arrival of androgenic alopecia. At the same time, hair thinning, volume loss, and poor quality of hair in the frontal area and temples are just some of the other symptoms one should take into account to identify if the hairline is receding.
When a person decides to take this issue to consultation, some specialists use the Hamilton-Norwood Scale to determine if the hairline has in fact receded. This scale is the most common classification system to diagnose and measure the diverse degrees of androgenetic alopecia in men.
