Whether you’re getting ready for the day or checking yourself out in a mirror while you’re out and about, discovering a bald spot could be anyone’s worst nightmare.
Hair loss is a very common condition that can affect men and women in their millions every year, and not everyone is likely to experience it in the same way.
For some people, hair loss may start with a receding hairline and thinning hair. For others, it could be bald spots around the crown or other specific parts of the scalp. England cricket captain Ben Stokes revealed he got a hair transplant at the Wimpole Clinic as a result of his crown bald spot:
“It’s something that I was very aware of and very worried about from a young age. Now, looking back to then, it was the first thing I would always look for in pictures. It was the first thing I would see when I watched footage of myself on the cricket field bowling.
“I guess that’s purely because of the angle the cameras are on you from a fielding point of view. When you’re bowling it’s above you, on top of your head. The more I played on TV, the more I noticed I was going a bit thin.”
Hair loss shouldn’t be a cause of embarrassment or insecurity as, no matter how severe your baldness is. There are plenty of different male hair loss treatment options that are available to you.
Below, we’ll take you through everything you need to know about bald spots on the crown. We’ll cover what they look like, how they’re caused, and what you can do to stop them from spreading to other parts of your scalp.
As we mentioned, bald spots can look very different for everyone. However, there are five different signs that could indicate a balding crown: hair loss at the crown, hair thinning, a widening part, double crown, and a receding hairline.
Hair loss around the crown is often the first, and most noticeable, sign of male pattern baldness.
Over time you may start to see your thinning crown starting to look wider, or more noticeable, as hair loss starts to accelerate.
Female and male pattern baldness often results in the hair on your head becoming much thinner over time. This can begin at the crown or other parts of your scalp.
Thinning hair will be especially noticeable when you’re trying to style your hair, or when you’re running your fingers through it.
A widening part is when the parting that runs down the centre of your head starts to become wider. It’s caused by the hair thinning out around your part, which exaggerates the appearance of your parting.
If you start to notice your normal hair parting width expanding, it could also be an early warning sign that you may see a bald spot on your crown in the near future.
A double crown is sometimes mistaken for balding. It can also make your bald spot look worse if you begin to lose hair between the two whorls on your vertex.
A receding hairline, along with balding around the crown, are two of the most common early signs of hair loss. So, if you’re noticing a receding hairline, you may later develop a bald spot on the crown.
Bald spots can develop for several different reasons but, if your bald spots are occurring particularly around your hairline or crown, it’s probably a sign of male pattern baldness.
Male pattern baldness is a very common condition that is thought to affect around 85% of men at some point in their lives [1]. The bald spots that occur from this develop when the hair in certain parts of your scalp begins to shed – either suddenly or over a longer period of time.
Hair loss is predominantly caused by hormonal factors, especially in relation to a specific male hormone known as dihydrotestosterone (DHT) [2]. This is normally down to androgenetic alopecia, which is an extremely common condition.
Although hormones and baldness are the primary cause of hair loss in men, it’s not always the only cause. Things like stress, medical conditions, skin health, and certain hair practices can all cause your hair to start falling out.
If you start to notice bald spots on your scalp, it’s not always a sign that you’ll go completely bald.
For some people, their hairline may recede over time. Others may notice a bald spot around the crown starting to get a bit more obvious than it was before. But it might not continue to the extent where you go completely bald.
However, if a bald spot on your crown is one of the early signs of baldness, it may be impossible to completely stop it from spreading across your scalp. This is especially true if you are suffering from male pattern baldness. In these cases, you may ultimately seek a hair transplant if you go completely bald.
Bald spots on the crown are hard to completely eradicate. But there are a few things you can do to stop a bald spot from spreading and encourage hair growth in the area.
In most cases, a crown bald spot is completely treatable and there is a whole range of different options that you can follow to stimulate hair growth and prevent further hair loss. These hair loss treatments may include over-the-counter medication to more permanent hair loss treatments, like a crown hair transplant.
The most important thing is to get to the root of the cause of your balding crown as different causes will require different solutions. To find out the specific cause, we’d recommend speaking to your GP or other healthcare professional about your symptoms.
Depending on the nature and severity of your hair loss, you may be able to use one of the following treatments to treat your bald spots.
Minoxidil is a topical medication that you apply to your scalp, or crown bald spot, twice daily. You can most often find it under the brand name Rogaine® but, there are also different off-brand versions that you can also find.
In trials of this treatment, a large majority of test subjects have found Minoxidil to be effective at promoting hair growth [3]. However, in order for this treatment to work, you will have to be very consistent with your application. Be patient – most users only start to notice an improvement in hair regrowth a few months after using the treatment.
Another medication that can be taken to treat a balding crown is Finasteride. This is an oral medication that must be taken once a day.
Finasteride works by decreasing the amount of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in the body which could usually shrink the size of hair follicles and be a leading cause of bald spots.
Clinical trials of Finasteride are very positive, with some studies finding that 80% of subjects experienced an improvement in their hair loss when they used the medication [4]. However, because it’s a hormonal treatment, it’s not suitable for women to use.
Similar to Finasteride is a drug called Dutasteride, which also blocks the enzyme in a man’s body that turns testosterone into DHT. When taken daily, Dutasteride can limit the amount of DHT that’s being produced. This may stop, or reverse, any hair loss that the hormone might have caused.
Dutasteride and Finasteride are two similar medications that both block the amount of DHT. Studies found that Dutasteride was able to increase hair count, hair width and hair growth more effectively than Finasteride [5].
Good styling and grooming habits can help prevent your hair loss getting any worse.
Some styling methods and products can be damaging to the hair. For example, you may be using too much heat or products that dry out the hair. This can make your scalp appear more visible through the thinning hair.
If you’re worried about crown hair loss, talk to your barber or stylist about different haircuts that can hide hair loss. Check out our list of the best and worst haircuts for men who are balding on top.
Finally, if your crown bald spot is getting really noticeable, a hair transplant is a permanent solution that you might want to consider.
Hair transplants involve removing hair follicles from areas of your scalp where hair is growing naturally and implanting them into areas where you’re experiencing hair loss.
This process can completely cover your balding or thinning crown with healthy hair follicles. It makes your bald patches look the same as other areas of your scalp where hair is growing normally.
At Wimpole Clinic, we specialise in two of the main types of hair transplant: FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) transplants and FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantations).
If you’re thinking about getting a hair transplant to get rid of your crown bald spot, we’d love to take you through the process.
Book a free consultation call with one of our experts today. We can take you through the whole journey and how the procedure might be able to work for you.
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