The Dr. Santiago Bassas Institute of Dermatology is a dermatological center that attends to all aspects of dermatology in general, both for adults and children, and especially the treatment of alopecia. “In my family, a great saga of dermatologists, we have specialized in all kinds of studies and treatments for alopecia. In fact, both my father and my uncle were pioneers in the seventies in hair transplants in Spain”, says Dr. Santiago Bassas.
What are the main causes of alopecia?
The different causes of alopecia can be divided into two groups. In the first place, non-scarring, which includes those with a hereditary androgenetic pattern (both in men and women), due to some dermatoses, congenital ones, due to endocrinological alteration, chemotherapy, external injuries and many other factors. On the other hand, scarring alopecia can be congenital or acquired: due to infections, radiotherapy, burns, inflammatory dermatoses, tumors, etc. As for androgenetic alopecia, also called MAGA in men and FAGA in women, the etiopathogenesis is based on the fact that testosterone is transformed into dihydrotestosterone, which, when fixed in the pilosebaceous follicle, miniaturizes it and generates increasingly smaller hair. weak and thin, until there comes a time when it stops generating it. Well, the transition from testosterone to dihydrotestosterone is metabolized by an enzyme, 5alpha-reductase. We currently have antiandrogen-based medications such as finasteride, which inhibits the enzyme 5 alpha-reductase II, and dutasteride, which inhibits the enzyme 5 alpha-reductase I and II, thus blocking the formation of dihydrotestosterone.
Is there any way to prevent it?
In some cases it can be prevented if we treat the inflammatory or infectious process that produces it. In other cases, such as the most common type of alopecia, androgenetic, it cannot be prevented, but if treatment is started as soon as possible (when we notice the first symptoms), the results are better and more evident.
What are these symptoms?
The main symptom that should call our attention is the decrease in capillary mass, that is, the volume of hair on the scalp. In fact, the hair loss itself is not important, if the fallen hair is recovered later. If this lack of hair is detected, it is when we must put ourselves in the hands of a doctor, a specialist in Dermatology, to evaluate the process, study the possible causes that originate it, establish a diagnosis and recommend the most appropriate treatment.
Another type of alopecia that worries us a lot today, since we are seeing more and more cases, is frontal fibrosing alopecia, in which fibrosis destroys the hair follicles of the first line of hair implantation. In this case it is very important to treat it as soon as possible, since we can no longer recover these follicles.
A specialist like the Dr. Santiago Bassas Dermatological Institute?
That's how it is. At the Institute we use different therapies such as the ones we have discussed throughout the interview, both in the case of MAGA or FAGA, which help our patients in their fight against alopecia.
