HAIR THIS
The physical trait that makes you ‘six times more likely to go bald’ – doctor claims clue is in your fingers
Plus, how to address hair loss and whether hair loss treatment is covered by the NHS
DO you anxiously stare at your hairline in the mirror? A subtle "body clue" may be able to predict whether you'll go bald.
Having the physical trait could make you up "six times more likely" to lose your locks later in life, a doctor claims - and it could be "hiding in plain sight".
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According to Dr Joe Whittington, the key to whether your hairline will start receding is in your hands - literally.
The emergency medic - known as @drjoe_md on social media - revealed it's all to do with the proportions of your ring and index fingers.
"There's a new and incredibly easy way to determine whether a man is going to go bald," he said in recently posted to his Instagram.
"This doesn't rely on any of those myths of baldness" such as whether or not your mother's father lost his hair, Dr Whittington claimed.
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What you need to do is work out the "2D:4D ratio" - or second to fourth digit ratio - which is the length of the ring finger compared to the length of the index finger, he said.
The doctor referred to a recent carried out by Chinese researchers, which measured the lengths of men's fingers and assessed the "severity" of their male pattern baldness.
Hair loss in men, usually strikes in middle age.
However, thinning at the crown and front of the scalp, can sometimes start as early as your late teens or early twenties.
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In the UK, around half of all men over 50 start to show typical signs of male pattern baldness.
This type of hair loss can be referred to as androgenic alopecia and may also strike women.
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The Chinese study included 240 men aged between the ages of 18 and 24, most of whom had a family history of pattern baldness.
Researchers looked at the 2D:4D ratio on participants' right hand.
They found those with lower ratio - meaning the ring finger is longer than the index finger - had a greater risk of androgenic alopecia.
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Dr Whittington claimed those with the lowest 2D:4D ratio were six times more likely to suffer hair loss than those with the highest.
According to the doctor, the study shows that "if your ring finger is longer than your index finger, you were exposed to more testosterone before you were born".
But how does this relate to baldness later in life?
Whittington added: "As you age, your hair follicles become more sensitive to a hormone called DHT and they shrivel and die.
"Well that testosterone that you were exposed to before birth makes you even more sensitive to DHT as you age."
This in turn results in a "higher likelihood of going bald".
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He said: "So when it comes to the question of, are you going to go bald later in life, the answer may literally be in the palm of your hands... well, I guess fingers."
Researchers behind the Chinese study suggested that the finger-ratio finding may alert people to their risk of hair loss and help them to seek treatment to combat it earlier.
How to treat hair loss
It's normal to lose hair. We can lose between 50 and 100 hairs a day, often without noticing.
Hair loss is not usually anything to be worried about, but occasionally it can be a sign of a medical condition.
It can be caused by:
- An illness
- Stress
- Cancer treatment
- Weight loss
- Iron deficiency
But some types of hair loss are permanent, like male and female pattern baldness.
This type of hair loss tends to run in the family.
If your thinning hair is causing you distress, speak to a GP about it.
But it's worth noting that not all treatment will be available on the NHS and that no treatment is 100 per cent effective.
Finasteride and minoxidil are the main treatments for male pattern baldness.
Minoxidil can also be used to treat female pattern baldness but women should not use finasteride.
Other treatments include steroid injections and creams, immunotherapy creams and tablets, light treatment and hair transplants.
You can also get counselling to help ease your distress.
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