Hair loss will usually follow a similar pattern. This kind of hair loss is caused by the hereditary androgenetic alopecia. Alopecia basically means hair loss, and androgenetic means caused by your genes. So androgenetic alopecia is the fancy medical term for genetic hair loss, commonly called male or female pattern baldness.
If you are starting to lose hair and you have others in your family who are dealing with hair loss, it is reasonable to assume that you will most likely follow the same pattern. Nevertheless, this does not mean that just because your dad or brother are going bald, you will too. The gene does not affect everyone in a family. It will also affect different members at a different rate.
Male Pattern Baldness – The Norwood Scale
The most common scale used for the classification of stages of hair loss in men is the Norwood Scale.
Here is the ranking of hair loss according to the stages of the Norwood Scale.
– Minimal hair loss starting at the temples
– Insignificant hair loss progression in the same area as 1
– More noticeable hair loss in the temporal area. Type 3 Vertex is when the hairline is receding as well as thinning in the crown area.
– Advanced hair loss in the hairline and crown. Starting to notice thinning throughout the scalp.
– Noticeable balding throughout the top of the head. Receding hair line and balding in the crown are very severe.
– This is near complete baldness. Hair is still present on the top of the head, but is almost completely gone.
– The last stage of hair loss. Not much left at all on the top of the head by this point.
Female Pattern Baldness – The Savin Scale
While male pattern baldness will start with the hairline and crown and close in to the middle of the head, female pattern baldness usually starts in the middle and fans out to the sides.
The Savin scale is the most commonly used classification scale for female hair loss.
Type I-1 – Scalp is just starting to show in the part of the hair
Type I-2 – Thinning is slightly worse in the part
Type I-3 – Further progression
Type I-4 – Advanced progression of hair loss in the middle of the scalp. This is typically when a hair transplant is considered.
Type II-1 – The scalp is very noticeable on the top of the head at this stage, and treatment is absolutely necessary at this point.
Type II-2 – The hair is now almost gone from the middle of the head, and the hair loss is very noticeable.
Type III – This is getting close to the most advanced level of hair loss, and multiple hair restoration treatments will be necessary at this point. Some effective treatments besides hair transplant are SMP (scalp micropigmentation) and PRP (platelet-rich plasma) therapy.
Advanced – This is it – the end of the road, and women who suffer with this level of hair loss will not have any hair left on the top of the head. The hair in the back and around the sides is still present because it is not affected by the same hormone that causes the hair on the top of the head to fall out.
Frontal – Some women will not follow the typical pattern and will actually lose hair in a similar pattern to men. This is when the hair loss is mostly affecting the frontal hairline. The good news is that this can be the easiest form of female pattern baldness to treat.
