Why Dandruff and inflamation of the scalp occur ??

[need_hair04]

Just wondering if anyone knows why most of us that go bald are experiencing lots of flaking, itching, and inflamation of the scalp. I heard that since DHT sits on the scalp where it affects the hair follicles it creates dandruff and inflamation as its by-product! Is this true or is it just a plain fluke that most people with thinning hair just happen to experience these effects???

 

[silkeysmooth]

it has to do with the immune system attacking the hair follicles, or something. The over-abundance of DHT and how it binds with androgen receptors messes up everything, and the follicles are falsely identified as bad for the body, and are thus attacked.

Or something.

 

[avri]

People with male pattern baldness have sebaceous glands that work overtime. This causes flaking and itching. The trouble with dandruff is, the affected areas often feel dry even though they are in fact oily, causing the patient to select the wrong type of shampoo, which can worsen the condition.

avri

 

[silkeysmooth]

yeah but what about the scalp inflammation?

 

[asolof]

it has to do with the immune system attacking the hair follicles, or something. The over-abundance of DHT and how it binds with androgen receptors messes up everything, and the follicles are falsely identified as bad for the body, and are thus attacked.

Or something.

Autoimmunity has nothing to do with male pattern baldness.

 

[pharoh]

I kinda agree with silkeysmooth...I have heard several times that once DHT has attached to the hair follicle (or whatever the mechanism is) then your body sees the follicle as a foreign body and starts making attempts to get it out of your scalp, so the immune system does play a part to some extent.

Thats why you ahve inflammation of the scalp, for the same reason people get excessive skin-cell turnover on their scalps, dandruff, itchiness etc

 

[asolof]

"In 1984, however, a researcher reviewed the literature, coming to the conclusion that P. ovale fulfilled all of Koch's postulates for dandruff and seborrheic dermatitis.[5] Coupled with the efficacy of ketoconazole in those conditions, medical opinion has slowly begun to swing back toward the fungal etiology."

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/407641?src=search

 

[need_hair04]

if DHT binding to the hair folicle and then the immune system attacking it is the cause of ityness, inflamation,flaking, then why do others who are not experiencing hairloss have this??? do their hair follicles just not react to the excessive DHT??

As for me I have to use both Nizoral and T-Gel to keep the flaking and inflamation down!

Something else that I have realized about finasteride is that I do not experience any more oilyness of my face as well as any achne. Before going on to finasteride, I had a very big problem with oilyness and some achne... however this is now a thing of the past. Could oilyness be a by-product of DHT as well?? I've been on finasteride for just over 4 months and Nizoral and T-gel for 5 months.

 

[asolof]

If autoimmunity caused male pattern baldness, then you would treat it like alopecia areata, which is caused by autoimmunity.

 

[wolfe]

From what I understand, no one is 100% sure how much of an effect the autoimmune response has on hair loss, or why some people get it and others don't . But from reading on this site, everyone stresses that in order to treat your hairloss, you have to treat the inflammation, which is likely an autoimmune response to the DHT. So all that should matter to you is that you need to get nizoral, or a similar shampoo, and treat it.

 

[asolof]

From what I understand, no one is 100% sure how much of an effect the autoimmune response has on hair loss, or why some people get it and others don't . But from reading on this site, everyone stresses that in order to treat your hairloss, you have to treat the inflammation, which is likely an autoimmune response to the DHT. So all that should matter to you is that you need to get nizoral, or a similar shampoo, and treat it.

Inflammation does not equal autoimmunity. Ketoconazole is an antifungal & anti-yeast drug. Yeast infections (seborrhea/dandruff) and fungal infections (tinea capitus) are also associated with inflammation. Ketoconazole also has dht blocking effects.

If there is a true link between dht binding to follicles inducing an autoimmune attack on the hair follicles, why is it limited to only the male pattern baldness areas? Also, if in fact this were really happening, it should be treatable with immune modulator drugs like elidel and protopic. I don't hear anyone here talking about using them.

Help me out here. Direct me to the information documenting the autoimmunity in male pattern baldness.

 

[Molecular Help]

Forgive me and probably several of us, but could you clarify what an autoimmune problem is? It occurs during organ transplant a lot right?

Anyways, obviously many people with male pattern baldness are a disproportionatlly suffering scalp irritation, especially in areas that shed hair. In every case I've seen on here, when the irritation is brought under control, the shedding decreases in that area.

So it seems clear that *something* from within is causing scalp irritation and hair shedding. As I stated before, I'm unfamaliar with the mechanism of an autoimmune response. In the case of mbp, there is definitely something in our bodies causing our precious hair to piss off our scalp. How is that not an autoimmune reaction?

 

[Petchsky]

Aslof Says

If there is a true link between dht binding to follicles inducing an autoimmune attack on the hair follicles, why is it limited to only the male pattern baldness areas? Also, if in fact this were really happening, it should be treatable with immune modulator drugs like elidel and protopic. I don't hear anyone here talking about using them.

It is only the male pattern baldness areas that are sensitive to DHT which causes inflammation and itching. The immune modular drugs would not stop the DHT shrinking the follicles, even if it did stop inflammation. Inflammation is a an effect of hairloss, not the cause, so male pattern baldness would still continue due to other factors.

 

[asolof]

Molecular Help,

Autoimmune diseases are diseases in which the body recognizes parts of itself as foreign and its' immune system, which normally attacks germs and foreign substances begins attacking itself.

Here is a link to a brochure which explains it in more detail:

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/publications/autoimmune/

Examples of autoimmune diseases are systemic lupus erythematosis, rheumatoid arthritis, mixed connective tissue disease, immune thyroiditis, hashimoto's thyroiditis, alopecia areata, type I autoimmune diabetes mellitus, alopecia areata, etc.

I don't believe that male pattern baldness is included in this group (yet) even though there is currently some theoretical speculation of a possible role of autoimmunity.