Base on the genetics research, they are getting closer to the heart of a problem that has plagued millions of men (and women) for thousands of years, the male-pattern baldness. A group of researchers, along with pharmaceutical company announced the discovery of a gene that increases the risk of male-pattern baldness.

This isn’t the first gene to show an association to the condition. A previously known gene on the X chromosome with a role in hormone reception has already been associated with male-pattern baldness. In fact, it’s often used as an example in biology class of a gene that men inherit from their mother, because the single X chromosome in a man comes from his mother.  And that’s also why your father’s head of hair gives you little information about whether you’re prone to male-pattern baldness; your mother’s father is a better person to watch.

Researchers report that a person has certain variations of both the known gene and the newly discovered one, his (or her) risk of male-pattern baldness increases sevenfold. In fact, the study showed that among men with both gene variants, 14 percent are at “very high risk of androgenic alopecia”. The fancy phrase for male-pattern baldness and 50 percent are at “moderate risk”. In terms of the relative risk, if you have neither of the two genetic variants you can be about 95 percent sure you won’t suffer the hairless fate.

But still, there’s no absolute certainty in these, they are just probabilities. And that’s one of the problems with genetics research and gene variants, they rarely give us the whole picture of what’s going on inside our bodies. As a matter of fact, we see these kinds of gene discoveries all the time. They come in two varieties: Researchers have found the first gene associated with or researchers have found another gene that also seems to play a role in.

These developments are often newsworthy, but it’s always important to understand that any discovery is just a step on a staircase scientists climb all the time in order to advance our knowledge of health and medicine. It’s not going to affect immediate change. So, for now, the hirsute hostility continues atop my head, and the head of so many others. All we can hope for is that our follicles will stand their ground like Spartans of the scalp.

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