What if our anonymous sperm donor is a bald man?

Hello, as you can read in the title we are a lesbian couple concerned about our donor characteristics. We’re doing DI in the United States and have decided that don’t want to meet him, so we prefer the sperm bank selects him. We know if you choose this option you cannot find out identifiable information about him, but as hair loss is genetic, we are concerned about this. Is there any chance that we can know this?

Dear Suzanne,

Several genes are involved in the development of androgenetic alopecia, commonly referred to as “baldness”. This makes it very difficult for experts to find the genetic pattern which leads to alopecia among men and in fact it remains kind of unknown by the moment.

Anyway. two factors have an influence on the development of alopecia: on the one hand, genetics and, on the other hand, hormones. Although there is a hereditary component, the gen responsible for baldness hasn’t been detected yet, as it is a polygenic pattern of inheritance, that is, various genes are inherited.

Be it as it may, baldness is not a disorder; for this reason, it is not analyzed in genetic screening tests performed on sperm donors. Don’t worry as there are still many years ahead before alopecia may show up! There are many other genetic disorders to worry about before paying attention to baldness.

Best regards