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Hair Loss News Archives
November 2002
Ultraviolet Light Linked to Androgenic Alopecia
"Androgenic Alopecia and Stress-Induced Premature
Senescence by Cumulative Ultraviolet Light Exposure"
Cumulative ultraviolet light exposure may induce premature hair-follicle
senescence in androgenic alopecia.
Dr. C. Piérard-Franchimont, of the Department of Dermatopathology, University
Medical Center Sart Tilman, Liège, Belgium, and colleagues compared the severity
of androgenic alopecia with the extent of solar elastosis in 140 men with
androgenic alopecia and 50 non-alopecic men.
They found that the scalp dermis was significantly thicker in the men with
androgenic alopecia than in the subjects without alopecia.
This difference was due to a more severe elastosis in baldness. The researchers found that the earliest signs of elastosis due to sun exposure preceded hair thinning.
A
negative exponential correlation was found between hair diameter and severity of
solar elastosis (when elastosis was thicker than 0.2 mm).
Concluded Dr. Piérard-Franchimont, "Chronic ultraviolet radiation exposure of
the scalp may affect the hair cycle and be one of the exogenous factors
influencing negatively the progression of androgenic alopecia."
Dr. Piérard-Franchimont also commented, "The induction of stress-induced
premature senescence by reactive oxygen species and micro-inflammation might be
operative at the level of the follicular stem cells."