Prevent Hair loss, don't Regrow?

Article by HairlossTalk.com

Given that many men are strongly motivated to seek help with their AGA, the treatment objectives may variously include the prevention of further hair loss, the maintenance of existing hair, the regrowth and retention of lost hair, or any combination of the three.' In most cases, however, prevention and maintenance are the most realistic therapeutic options. In this context, it must be recognized that there is frequently a disparity between what the physician assumes are the patient's needs or requirements, and what the patient actually expects. Although there is a lack of rigorous scientific studies of men's attitudes towards regrowth of their lost hair as compared to the prevention of further hair loss, some indications are available in the literature. For example, in a study in which men with AGA completed the Hair Loss Effects Questionnaire (HLEQ), a high proportion gave responses that were directed towards a future rather than a present state: 93% worried about how much hair they would lose, 87% reported trying to estimate if they were losing more hair, and 8o% tried to imagine how they would look with more hair loss Cash" has also reported that balding men who anticipated more hair loss in the future experienced significantly greater negative events and cognitive preoccupation, and were also less satisfied with their hair and overall appearance than men who anticipated minimal future hair loss.

Some anecdotal evidence, based on market research among 2200 men with at least some degree of hair loss, strongly supports the importance of prevention rather than regrowth to the patient. Thus, when asked directly whether they were more concerned about the amount of hair they currently had (i.e. regrowth) or the rate at which they were losing it (i.e. prevention), most respondents (61%) were equally concerned about the two; of those expressing a greater concern for one or the other, two-thirds were more concerned with prevention and one-third with regrowth. Although the ideal for most of the men involved in this research would clearly be a hair treatment that produced both regrowth and prevention, slightly more respondents thought that prevention (43%) rather than regrowth (34%) was essential in a hair loss treatment.

Therefore, it seems that many men are more anxious to prevent further hair loss in the future than they are to regrow the hair they have already lost. Nonetheless, physicians may incorrectly believe that the patient will only be satisfied with overt regrowth, when in fact he would be content with retaining his remaining hair. This is an important point because secondary prevention, that is the prevention of further loss, is currently a more realistic treatment goal for the physician to offer. This is demonstrated by the drug treatments that have been or are now available.

Drug treatments: Minoxidil

The antihypertensive drug minoxidil was shown in the early 1980's to stimulate new hair growth, and was eventually approved as a topical treatment for AGA in men and women. Minoxidil is known to act as an opener of potassium channels, but the mechanism by which it exerts its effect on hair is unclear, as it is a vasodilator with no known antiandrogenic activity. It appears to convert vellus to terminal hairs, to normalize the hair follicular morphology, and to increase the number of follicles in mid to late anagen, the growth phase of the hair cycle Multicenter clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of minoxidil in AGA: in most patients treated with topical minoxidil 2% or 3% for 12 months, mean hair counts increased, and in some patients hair counts continued to increase for some time afterwards. 19-3

Topical minoxidil 2% nevertheless has only limited success and the individual response is highly variable. Recent clinical trials with topical minoxidil 5% have shown promising results: in one study, 54% of treated patients showed an increase in hair counts, compared to 29 % of patients on placebo.

Minoxidil has not been approved for systemic use because of potentially serious side-effects, notably cardiovascular, due to its antihypertensive action, and because extraneous hair growth has occasionally been seen even with topically applied minoxidil thought to be due to absorption and systemic action.

Furthermore, as discussed earlier, the majority of men appear to be more concerned with prevention of further hair loss than with regrowth: Minoxidil has not shown any preventive activity, and its ability in the long term to retain new growth against a background of genetically associated hair loss has not been demonstrated.

(continued on next page...)

© HairlossTalk.com - All Rights Reserved.
The content found here is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice.
For permission to duplicate any content, please Contact Us.
Make sure you're Subscribed to the Newsletter! We never share your info.