Hair Loss and TRT / Testosterone

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All across the world, millions of men have found a solution to low testosterone through a treatment called testosterone replacement therapy. Testosterone replacement therapy is becoming a more and more common treatment to use, but those that wish to use testosterone replacement therapy naturally have dozens of questions that they want to be answered before they make the leap and ensure that testosterone injections are the right choice for them. If you are considering testosterone replacement therapy through testosterone injections, then you might have heard before that testosterone injections cause baldness in males.

Deciding on a testosterone replacement injection treatment can be difficult, and we are going to give you the information that you need to make an informed decision. In this guide, you will find the right information about the possible link between injected testosterone and baldness, and whether there is any evidence to support if this is the case.

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Will increased levels of testosterone cause hair loss?

If you are going to answer the question of whether injected testosterone is responsible for hair loss and other hair conditions, then you first need to understand the relationship between testosterone and hair loss. This complex relationship is multifaceted and often difficult to understand.

The first thing to know about testosterone and hair is that testosterone is one of the most important elements in the body of any man. Testosterone is responsible for keeping the male body healthy in a variety of ways and that extends to hair growth, bone strength, muscle mass, mental state, motivation, focus, and other factors as well. Without the right level of testosterone, many of these things can suffer. So, it stands to reason that without the proper amount of testosterone, a male may experience hair loss as a result, among other symptoms as well.

However, that is often not the question that most men are asking when considering testosterone replacement therapy and testosterone injections. There is a belief out there that testosterone injections somehow cause a reduction in the hair follicles of the male body, leading to male pattern baldness and hair loss. The theory behind this is somewhat complex and the number of studies that have been done on it quite limited.

The basic argument of people and scientists that share this opinion is that natural testosterone when combined with other elements of the TRT treatment, affects the natural predisposition of the hair follicles on the head and other areas of the body. Thus, testosterone injections could be indirectly responsible for hair loss that some men might experience when they start testosterone replacement therapy and testosterone injection treatments.

What about DHT?

The theory for testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and testosterone injections causing increased baldness seems to be based on the assumption that an increase in testosterone in the body leads to an increase in the production of DHT. If you are researching the possible effects of testosterone on your hair and rate of balding, then you might have come across DHT in your reading. Before you can understand whether this is a valid theory, you must first have a good grasp on what DHT is and why some people think that testosterone replacement therapy has a hand in increasing the amount of DHT that is responsible for hair loss.

DHT is a synthetic form of the testosterone in your body that usually is created when testosterone combines with other elements in your body. DHT is known for regulating many areas of the body, but it is also infamous because it is known to reduce the size of the hair follicles and cause a reduction in the amount of hair growing steadily until there is no more hair growing at all. For men that are receiving testosterone injections or are looking into TRT this can be concerning.

Since DHT is known to cause a reduction in size and effectiveness of hair follicles in men, many have hypothesized that the increase in testosterone that your body will receive during a testosterone replacement therapy treatment or testosterone injection will cause your body to produce more DHT, thus accelerating the loss of your hair. Some even claim that this is a proven theory that is backed by studies and science.

What does the science say?

When it comes to making your decision on a way to deal with low testosterone, and you are cautious of the potential side effects, then it’s best to listen to what proven studies and science have to say. There have been countless studies done on this topic, and none have found that an increase in testosterone leads to an increase in DHT, thus resulting in less hair on the head. So, if you are considering testosterone injections as a form of testosterone replacement therapy, you can be confident that you will not, in fact, experience a hair loss as a direct result.

Obviously, every person is different and people will likely have varying results based on their genetic makeup and other health factors. So, it’s not a guarantee that you won’t experience hair loss when you begin a new treatment, but there is no data or science to suggest that it would be the result of testosterone injections. Hair loss in men is ultimately mainly caused by your genetic makeup and this is the only real sure way of knowing if you are likely to suffer from male pattern baldness.

If you have heard of evidence that testosterone injections do directly cause hair loss and male pattern baldness, then you have likely heard these stories as anecdotal evidence, not anything concrete or proven by a formal study. It is possible that men experienced a loss in hair when beginning a testosterone injection treatment, but it is not likely at all that the cause of this hair loss was directly the cause of the injection treatment.

“There have been no conclusive clinical studies on the link between beginning testosterone treatment and hair loss, however, many forum users have posted anecdotal evidence about noticing significant hair loss after beginning the treatment.” – The Belgravia Centre

Causes of baldness in men

There have been many cases of men experiencing baldness when starting a testosterone injection treatment, but it’s not because of the testosterone injection treatment. Oftentimes, it is caused by one of many factors that can affect a man’s ability to grow thick and healthy hair. This section will review just some of the possible reasons that a man could experience baldness around the time that they start a testosterone treatment by injection.

Stress

One of the most common reasons that men experience hair loss and many other symptoms is that they have a lot of stress in their life. Without a healthy way to relieve stress and put yourself in a better mental state, stress can quickly have very negative effects on the body, and that does extend to hair loss. If you are experiencing a stressful time in your professional or personal life around the time that you start a low testosterone treatment, then that could be causing any balding that you have been experiencing. You should seek a way to manage stress in a healthy way if you wish to keep a full head of hair for longer.

Natural Aging Process

Though not every man will be pleased to hear it, sometimes, hair loss is just an effect of the natural aging process. As you age, there will be several effects on your body that you might not find to be the most pleasant to deal with. Hair loss can certainly be one of them. Oftentimes, hair loss is actually caused by a natural lowering of testosterone as you age.

Though you cannot fight the process of natural aging forever, there are things that you can do as you age to decrease the effects that your body experiences. These strategies include learning how to manage stress, eating better, exercising more, and generally taking care of your body as you age. You’ll never be able to reverse the effects of aging, but you can slow them so that you don’t have to deal with the side effects and negative aspects for as long.

Low Testosterone

There are a variety of reasons that you might be experiencing low testosterone, but regardless of what those reasons are, low testosterone is known to cause things like hair loss. Testosterone is the hormone in the male body that is largely responsible for a lot of different important functions. When your body is low on testosterone, it can wreak havoc throughout the body.

Ironically, you can experience these symptoms for up to a few days after you have started treatments for it, so you shouldn’t be too worried. If you have not experienced treatments for low testosterone as of yet, then you should look at treatments for low testosterone if you wish to combat the effects of having low testosterone, which include hair loss and hair thinning as you age.

In addition to hair loss, low testosterone can have many other effects on the body, which are probably the reason for your curiosity for testosterone injections in the first place.

Treatment Shock

Even though testosterone injections are designed to help you overcome the symptoms that you experience when you have low amounts of testosterone in the body, there are often side effects of new treatments. If your body has had low testosterone for a while, the shock of the treatment and the increased levels of testosterone could cause some unintended consequences for your body. One of the common side effects of this happening is a loss or thinning of some hair.

This is not an ideal situation, but you should know that it is typically very short-term and not likely to affect your hair in the long term. This is simply one of the side effects that could occur when you decide to put your body through a new treatment. In the long run, testosterone injections are seen as highly successful and very effective methods of treating low testosterone and the side effects that come along with it.

Genetics

Genetics is considered the primary factor at play when it comes to male pattern baldness. If you have male pattern baldness in your family then it’s likely you too will suffer from baldness as you age. Though you may not like it and it’s certainly not the most convenient thing to deal with, sometimes there is nothing that we can do to stop genetics. Genetics is one of the most powerful forces in nature, and if genetics dictates that you will have balding hair early on, there is rarely much that can be done about it. There are artificial treatments that can be done, but testosterone generally will not assist in this.

Male pattern baldness is most common around the age of 25-40 and this is often the time when people consider TRT, and it causes them to assume it is the TRT causing hair loss when in fact it is simply just their genetics and they would have experienced male pattern baldness whether on TRT or not.

The reason that understanding what role genetics plays is important is because many people often mistake the reason for their balding as something having to do with the testosterone injection, while the truth may be that they simply are genetically predisposed or inclined towards early male pattern balding.

What to do if you experience balding after starting TRT

Though we have established that testosterone injections are not directly responsible for balding and any evidence to suggest otherwise is purely anecdotal, there will undoubtedly be concern among men that experience balding shortly after starting their testosterone replacement injections. If you do experience balding following your testosterone injection treatments, there are some steps that you should take to hopefully reverse the effects and get back to normal.

The first thing that you will want to do is speak to your doctor and let them know that you are experiencing some strange side effects and you feel that it might be because of the treatment or possibly the shock of the treatment on your body. They will do a customized health assessment and give you some possible reasons that you are experiencing balding. Based on their recommendation, you can take corrective action to reverse the effects or slow them if possible. One of the things that they may suggest is that you live a more active and healthy lifestyle, or that you learn to manage stress in a better way. It’s possible you could be put on some medication such as finasteride which is known to have benefits to hair follicles however you would likely need to speak to a specialist hair loss doctor to be put on this or other kinds of medication.

The important thing to remember is that while it can be frustrating to experience hair loss during a time of testosterone treatment, the treatment is rarely to blame. In fact, it can help you overcome the symptoms with some time since testosterone is such a vitally important part of your body and daily body functions.

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