[Hormones and hair growth in man].

A literature review tries to diminish the ambiguity between hormones and hairs. Therefore the hormonal action in general (regulation of the protein synthesis indirectly by enzymatical regulation of the AMP-system or directly by hormones as active metabolites) and the methods to explore hormones-hair-interaction are discussed. Hormones pertaining to the pituitary-adrenal-gonadal axis are regarded as the paramount hormones; therefore the results of research in testosterone, 5-alpha-dihydrotestosterone, estrogens, progesterone, glucocorticoids, the hypophysis and its tropins are recapitulated. The main disorders of hair-growth, pattern baldness and "idiopathic" hirsutism, which would be dependent on a similar disturbance of androgen metabolism, are discussed. Pathology in hair-growth may arise in any point of the cascade of hormone action.