Morphological and Morphometric Study of the Androgenetic Alopecic Scalp Using Two- and Three-Dimensional Analysis Comparing Regional Differences

June 2014 in “ British Journal of Dermatology ”

Jeong Nam Kim, J.Y. Lee, Kang Jae Shin, Young Chul Gil, Ki Seok Koh, Wu‐Chul Song

androgenetic alopecia AGA terminal hairs vellus hairs sebaceous glands arrector pili muscles follicular canals sebaceous lobules seborrhoeic dermatitis miniaturization of hair follicles sebum secretion dermis androgenic alopecia seborrheic dermatitis hair follicle miniaturization sebum

TLDR The study found that balding scalps have more thin hairs and larger oil glands, which might contribute to skin conditions related to hair loss.

The study analyzed the scalp of 24 male cadavers with advanced androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and compared it with 32 normal scalps, using histological methods and three-dimensional reconstruction. It found significant differences in the ratio of terminal to vellus hairs, with the AGA frontal region having a much higher proportion of vellus hairs (86%) compared to the occipital region (22%). The sebaceous glands and arrector pili muscles were also larger in the frontal region. These morphological changes, including narrowed follicular canals and enlarged sebaceous lobules, may be linked to seborrhoeic dermatitis. The study, involving cadavers with an average age of 76.7 years, suggested that the observed miniaturization of hair follicles and the attachment of the arrector pili muscle to the dermis rather than the hair follicle could affect sebum secretion and contribute to dermatological conditions associated with AGA. This was the first study to use three-dimensional reconstruction to examine these changes in AGA.

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