An Overview of the Treatment Options

Article by HairlossTalk.com

If you're lucky enough to have hair growing from your scalp, rest assured that it is growing rapidly -- at an average rate of one millimeter every three days. If you're unlucky enough to be losing it, your expenses to treat balding could grow rapidly instead -- to around $100 a month. But even with the expensive combination drug therapy that many medical experts consider best, you're more likely to merely prevent or retard further hair loss than to regrow hair. And whatever benefits you gain from these drugs will last only for as long as you keep taking them...Conventional practitioners insist that the vast majority of advertised products that claim to fight male-pattern baldness -- from vitamin formulas to saw palmetto to massage oils -- haven't been shown to work. Some dermatologists recommend a combination of the anti-wrinkle drug Tretinoin (sold under such brand names as Retin-A) and minoxidil, one of two drugs approved for baldness, but there is no clear evidence that this mixture is any more effective than minoxidil alone. Likewise, zinc has been tried for many kinds of hair problems but has never been proven useful. Mainstream doctors dismiss techniques such as acupuncture for the same reason, and even acupuncturists differ among themselves about whether the ancient Chinese art can benefit a balding head.

Mainstream and nontraditional clinicians agree that it's easier to address any type of hair loss early and that therapy works best if a person sticks with it for at least several months. They also note that hair loss, or alopecia, can sometimes be avoided by changing grooming practices. Excessive pulling from tight rollers, pigtails or cornrows, for example, can cause scarring on the scalp; hot oil hair treatments and chemicals used in permanent waves can also cause baldness.

Hit or Miss Drugs

Male-pattern baldness, which is typically seen as a receding hairline and/or balding at the crown, is by far the most common form of hair loss, affecting about half of men by age 50. Contrary to popular belief that baldness passes from mother to son, it's likely that multiple genes from both the mother and the father are responsible.

In men with this trait, heightened sensitivity to the male hormone DHT is believed to shorten the time it takes for hair to fall out. This sensitivity also reduces the size of the follicles from which each hair sprouts. When this occurs, the follicles produce a different sort of hair: Instead of being able to grow long and thick, strands are short and fine, similar to those on the arms and legs.

Hereditary baldness usually develops over many years. If shedding or thinning begins suddenly and progresses quickly, people should seek medical advice because this could be the sign of such conditions as thyroid disease, lupus, diabetes, a scalp fungus or an iron or zinc deficiency.

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