Hair Loss Diagnosis

Laser caps can be found in almost any hair transplant clinic around the world where they are used to help heal the wounds after the surgery. The use of low level light beams for reducing pain, inflammation, healing of wounds, deeper tissue and nerves and preventing tissue damage has been known for four decades. Recently a new application of the old method - HairMax LaserComb - has earned its fame. The HairMax LaserComb is a hand-held lower level laser therapy device that contains a single laser module, emulating beams at a certain wavelength. The novelty of this device is a technique of parting the user’s hair by combs that are attached to the device. This improves delivery of distributed laser light to the scalp. In addition, by aligning the teeth with the laser beams, the hair can be parted and the laser energy delivered to the scalp of the user without obstruction by the individual hairs on the scalp. This makes the light delivery more effective.

The aim of the recently conducted study was to assess the safety and effectiveness of the HairMax LaserComb device in the promotion of hair growth and stopping hair loss in men diagnosed with male pattern baldness. This was a double-blind, sham device-controlled, multicentre, 26-week trial randomized study with male patients with Norwood-Hamilton classes IIa-V. The sham device used in the study was identical with the studied LaserComb except that the laser light was a non-active light source. Of the 110 patients who completed the study, subjects in the HairMax LaserComb group exhibited a considerably greater increase in terminal hair density than subjects in the sham device group. Consistent with this evidence, significant improvements in overall hair re-growth were demonstrated in terms of patients’ subjective assessment. The HairMax LaserComb was found to be well tolerated with no serious negative side-effects reported. The results of this study suggest that the HairMax LaserComb can be considered as an effective, well tolerated and safe laser therapy device for the treatment of male pattern baldness.

It has been long known that benign prostate enlargement and hair loss have a common cause, which is the metabolite dihydrotestosterone (DHT) damaging prostate cells as well as hair follicles. However, benign prostatic hyperplasia can in some cases lead to prostate cancer. Hence, all three conditions can be treated using the same class of anti-androgen drugs known as alpha reductase inhibitors. These include finasteride (trade name for treating prostates is Proscar whereas Propecia is used for hair loss) and dutasteride (trade name Avodart). However, recent research indicates that these two conditions have more in common. It has been found out recently that men who go bald at an early age (in their twenties) are twice more likely to develop prostate cancer than the average man. Although until recently there have been conflicting reports about a link between prostate enlargement or prostate cancer and male pattern baldness, this study confirms that the connection really exists. However, the study showed that there was no increased risk of prostate cancer among men who started balding in their 30s or 40s.

Although there is no direct link between hair loss and individual body weight, in certain instances chronic undernourishment can lead to increased hair loss. This is due to the body lacking certain vital nutrients that are necessary for growing healthy hair. This situation mainly relates to health conditions known as anorexia and bulimia. It often happens that starvation and the resulting lack of proper nutrients causes not only damage to the digestive organs such as liver, it can also lead to changes in hair’s growth cycle such as shortening of the hair’s growth phase, extending of the resting phase and thus increasing the ratio of hair in the resting phase. In extreme cases a starving person can suffer from sudden telogen effluvium, losing a significant portion of one’s hair within a very short period of time.

One should realize that the hair is made of protein called keratin. The body places a low priority to developing hair when it is faced with starvation. Therefore, in times of food scarcity, the vital nutrients are primarily used to feed vital bodily functions and the hair is left to suffer. Telogen effluvium is often a result of sudden traumatic changes and excessive starvation can be considered as one of them. However, hair loss caused by the lack of nourishment is typically reversible and once you start eating normally you will regrow most of the hairs you have seemingly lost, since they were not lost, just resting. They will quickly wake up and return to their growth phase, which will give you an impression of suddenly having thicker hair.

Hair cloning, also called hair multiplication, is widely considered to hold the key to resolving the hair loss problem. The main difficulty with treating hair loss today is the shortage of products that could re-grow hair. Most of the available treatments such as Rogaine (minoxidil) or Propecia (finasteride) are relatively good at maintaining hair but their ability to grow back the lost hair is relatively poor. Hair surgery thus remains the only option for anybody looking for a permanent solution. The main shortage of surgical hair restoration, though, is the shortage of available donor hair. It is limited to the certain portion of hair in the back of the scalp, which is considered permanent and thus can be transplanted successfully and stay. This is where the hair cloning comes in useful. The main purpose of this method is to secure an unlimited source of transplants so that no matter how little hair one has left, even the last healthy hair follicle can be multiplied and transplanted to the bald skin.

However, there is a big difference in the form in which the cloned hair would be transplanted when compared with traditional hair transplantation techniques today. Now when it comes to transplanting hair we know the two main methods and both of them consist in surgically transplanting the individual hair follicles into the bald scalp. With hair cloning there would be no hair follicles to transplant. There would only be cultured hair cells (multiplied from the hair follicles in the back) that would be injected into the bald spot where they are believed to induce a healthy new hair growth. Such resource would be unlimited and could be also used in alopecia areata patients or burn patients who have lost a substantial portion of their hair. However, it needs to me mentioned that commercial introduction of hair multiplication as a method of treating hair loss should not be expected within the next 5 years.

While many hair loss sufferers are awaiting GlaxoSmithKline’s release of its clinical study results on the use of Avodart (dutasteride) for treating male pattern baldness, a different study by the GlaxoSmithKline Group has been released recently. It shows that Avodart, which is already used to shrink enlarged prostates could also help reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer. This is practically in line with what we already know about a similar drug used for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and baldness in men – finasteride (Proscar/Propecia). Because it is too early to say whether finasteride or dutasteride are able to significantly reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer, there is no consensus at the moment amongst the experts regarding the use of these hormone-blocking drugs as prostate cancer prevention agents. However, as some doctors suggest for men with significant prostate cancer risk factors, it may be prudent to consider the use of either Proscar or Avodart at low doses for prevention of prostate cancer.

Hair loss is one of the most common health conditions but since it is not associated with any serious disease and obviously is it neither deadly nor even harmful, research into potential treatments for hair loss does not attract resources that more serious diseases normally do. Therefore, both existing hair loss treatments have been derived from medications used to treat other health conditions. Minoxidil, the active substance of Rogaine, was originally used as Loniten to treat high blood pressure before its hair growth promoting side effects were discovered. Finasteride, the sole ingredient of Propecia, has been known as Proscar for many years and used to treat prostate enlargement. And now bimatoprost, a glaucoma treatment known as Lumigan has been recently approved by the FDA for its use to lengthen eyelashes under the name of Latisse. Bimatoprost was also tested as a potential hair loss treatment and preliminary results were encouraging, so it is very likely that a clinical trial may start soon.

Saw palmetto is a dwarf palm tree native to North America, which berries have been used for centuries by Native Americans to treat urinary disorders. These berries and their extracts have been imported to Europe for about 50 years now and used in various over-the-counter prostate remedies. However, with the 1990s invention of the true cause of hereditary form of hair loss being the dihydrotestosterone’s attacks on hair follicles, saw palmetto became highly valued as a potential hair loss remedy. The fact is that dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a metabolite of the male hormone testosterone, can cause damage to two organs in human body, which are: prostate and hair follicles, leading to benign prostate enlargement and permanent hair loss. So ever since this discovery, the hair loss scientists have been trying to examine all sorts of natural substances that were supposed to help with enlarged prostates and turn them into potential hair loss remedies.

Saw palmetto is probably the best known natural prostate treatment that has later become a popular hair loss remedy. These days its extract cannot be missing in any natural hair loss product, whether oral or topical and many claim it is no less effective in eliminating the harmful effects of DHT on our hair follicles than the only clinically proven and FDA approved hair loss pill - Propecia. Moreover, saw palmetto is also promoted as a natural, healthy alternative to Propecia (finasteride) as it is supposed to posses no negative side-effects. The fact, however is, that saw palmetto has never been clinically proven to promote hair growth and even its positive impact on shrinking enlarged prostates has been cast in doubt recently. Additionally, there are numerous consumer reports from saw palmetto users, complaining about allergic reactions, stomach pain, testicular discomfort, lower libido, difficulties with erections, etc. and considering that saw palmetto is also known to cause stomach bleeding you should better think twice before getting on this treatment. In conclusion it should be mentioned that applying saw palmetto topically might help you avoid some of its negative side-effects but, it would most likely deprive you also of its hair growth promoting properties, if there were any.

It is a known fact that women lose their hair around their entire scalp whereas the male balding pattern is confined to the top and the front of the scalp. This makes women difficult patients for hair transplantation because you never know which hair follicles are going to be resistant to further miniaturization and, therefore, which follicles to choose so that they would survive long enough after the transplantation. Scientists have found out recently that there is a significant difference between the way female hair follicles are affected by miniaturization versus men’s. When men’s hair follicles are affected by miniaturization induced by the harmful effects of the dihydrotestosterone (DHT) this miniaturization affects all hairs in the follicle and they eventually all die. However, DHT in males is not known to affect the follicles on the sides and at the back of their head.

The balding pattern in women is quite different. Although DHT also happens to be the main cause of baldness in women it affects their hair follicles differently. It causes the miniaturization selectively so that only one or two hairs within the follicle will be affected and this process, though being more visible at the top of the scalp than at the back, is not limited to this area. So, in women DHT causes the miniaturization of hairs in all follicles around the scalp but only a few follicles will die altogether. In the most hair follicles at least one hair will survive unaffected, which gives women the typical diffuse balding pattern. It can be concluded that in women there is a certain hierarchy of hair miniaturization within the hair follicle, causing a different balding pattern.

Hair loss can take many forms and have many causes but the fact is that this common condition affects about 40% of the male population and 25% of females at some point in their lives. The best known form of hair loss is the male pattern baldness, which has the same main cause as the female pattern baldness but about 2%-3% of the population are affected by the unpredictable alopecia areata as well as some other rare forms of baldness. Since there are so many different types of hair loss there are manifold approaches to its treatment, resulting in thousands of different products flooding the market with most of them being available as unregulated over-the-counter cosmetic products. This creates a great opportunity for scammers who want to make a quick buck.

The simplest way of finding out whether any treatment would work for you is to try it out yourself but given the sheer number of available products this would take several lives to find out while the hair would be long gone. This is where the hair loss product reviews may come in useful. However, most platforms that collect such reviews are flooded by the unavoidable spam so you need to learn to read between the lines. You obviously need to have some basic knowledge of common approaches to treating hair loss to be able to tell a scam at the first look. For instance as regards the male pattern baldness, Propecia and Rogain are the two approved treatments that have been shown to be effective in a significant percentage of patients but there are a number of other substances that have being shown to be effective in some patients in some smaller studies. However, there are a number of other ingredients that you can find in hair loss treatments that appear to be useless and you should be able to see that. So, take your time to read reviews before you fall for any product and once you have tried it do not forget to write a products review at one of the websites that collect them in order to help hair loss sufferers like yourself to avoid scam.

Although it may sound surprising, female hereditary form of hair loss affects about 25% of the adult female population. It may not seem so, since the female form of hair loss is diffuse and, therefore, less visible than men’s form and women are more likely to cover their thin areas with hair systems than men. Women also happen to have fewer treatment options as they cannot use the best male hair loss pill Propecia and many of them do not make a good candidate for hair transplantation. This is because they lack the hair density in the back of their scalp as their hair loss is diffuse and if their hair from the back of the scalp got transplanted to another area of the scalp it would not necessarily stay there.

However, apart from Rogaine and herbal hair loss treatments there is one pill that can be considered as a female form of Propecia. This pill is called Aldactone and spironolactone is its main active substance. Therefore, you will often hear people mentioning generic Aldactone, which is actually the chemical substance called spironolactone. Spironolactone is a diuretic that prevents your body from absorbing too much salt and retain too much water and keeps your potassium levels from getting too low. Hence spironolactone is used to treat hypokalemia (low potassium levels in your blood), fluid retention in the body, high blood pressure and heart failure. In addition, it is used to treat excess body hair and acne in women. However, some doctors have never heard of spironolactone’s hair growth promoting properties despite the fact that it is probably the most powerful weapon in the fight against female pattern baldness. Altactone (spironolactone) is only available at doctor’s prescription and should only be used in women. Some male hair loss patients are also experimenting with the use of spironolactone but they should only apply it topically as oral spironolactone can have strong feminizing effects on the male body.