Some scientists think low DHT levels in female children may delay the start of puberty. High levels of DHT can shrink your hair follicles and shorten the hair growth cycle, resulting in hair loss. Androgenic alopecia is commonly known as male pattern hair loss. This local DHT production stimulates normal prostate activity but also commonly leads to prostate growth. These studies were performed before more accurate and precisemeasurements of DHT were possible with LC-MS/MS. However, a strong link between the T/DHT ratio andadverse hormonal, anthropometric, and metabolic parameters was observed in women with PCOS,leading the authors to propose the T/DHT ratio as a new biomarker for PCOS. But unlike T and free T that peak at midcycle, DHT levels did not changeacross the menstrual cycle. The very low concentrations of T about 40 ng/dL (1.4nmol/L) and DHT about 10 ng/dL (0.34 nmol/L) have led to controversy over the accuracy oftheir measurements, particularly by RIA techniques (227). Because the concentration of DHT is very high in the prostate,one may hypothesize that if DHT stimulates telomere lengthening in prostate, it mayparadoxically play a protective role in some cells.
