dose having long hair make a man go bald?

hey um im a guy with long hair and ive had long hair for like 2 years i have been losing alote of hair and i noticed mini bald spots dose having long hair link to that? or possibly i leave it in a ponytail too frequently? my fathers bald and went started at my age (17 however he claims he had alote worse than me) but no one on my mom side is bald in my adulthood will i start to ched alote and end up a bald guy i mean i realy like long hair :( help??

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

The length of the hair is unrelated to baldness or alopecia. Aside the male pattern baldness, alopecia could occur secondary to a few causes such as cellulites, fungal infections, hormonal imbalance, hypervitaminosis A, some autoimmune diseases such as lupus, medications side effect, infection, folliculitis etc. A this stage I would suggest consulting a primary care physician or a dermatologist for an evaluation to rule out the above mentioned causes and appropriate treatment.
Hope this helps.

Take care!