FAQ · THE SCIENCE
Hair Biology
You are born with every follicle you will ever have. What changes across a lifetime is not their number but their size — and how long each one is allowed to stay in growth. Understanding that clock is the whole basis of both medical and surgical treatment.
THE HAIR CYCLE
Three phases, wildly different lengths
Follicles across the scalp do not cycle in unison — which is why healthy hair thins gradually rather than shedding all at once.
01 · GROWTH
Anagen
3 to 10 years
The active growth phase, and the one that matters most. Nearly every treatment in this practice — topical, oral, or surgical — works by lengthening anagen or returning a follicle to it.
02 · TRANSITION
Catagen
2 to 3 weeks
A brief regression. The follicle detaches from its blood supply and shortens — a matter of weeks against anagen's years, which is why only about 1% of scalp hairs are ever caught here.
03 · REST
Telogen
3 to 4 months
The resting phase, ending in release of the hair shaft. Roughly 13% of scalp hairs sit in telogen — the source of ordinary daily shedding, and not itself a sign of loss.
PATTERN HAIR LOSS
Two patterns, one mechanism — miniaturization
MALE PATTERN BALDNESS (MPB)
Recognized since the 1940s as androgen-dependent. Two things happen with every cycle: the anagen phase shortens, and the follicle itself emerges slightly finer and shorter than before. Repeat that across ten or fifteen cycles and a terminal hair becomes a barely visible one.
FEMALE PATTERN HAIR LOSS (FPHL)
The role of androgens here remains uncertain — a genuinely open question in the field, and a reason women's evaluations warrant more than a glance at the part line. Both MPB and FPHL are frequently familial, with an inheritance pattern carrying both maternal and paternal contributions.
Because other conditions can imitate inherited loss, a proper evaluation rules those out first — see Medical Therapy.
