Hair Replacement

Hair Replacement Options

There are four main options for hair replacement - medication, hair transplants, hair flaps and scalp reduction.

According to the FDA, an estimated 40 million men and 20 million women in the United States are affected by baldness or hair thinning. In 95 percent of cases, baldness or thinning is due to heredity. The other 5 percent of hair loss is due to chemotherapy or a condition called alopecia areata. Alopecia acreata often corrects itself over time, and no one is absolutely sure what causes it - though it’s thought to be an autoimmune disease. There are hair restoration options for chemotherapy and alopecia acreata, though you should consult a health care provider about them to be sure they do not interfere with other treatments.

Male balding tends to be in patches, such as from the crown of the head or hair loss at the brow and up. Female baldness tends to be an all over thinning pattern and can be especially pronounced after menopause.

Medication Treatment for Hair Loss

Monoxidil is a topical product approved by the FDA and is the active ingredient in Rogaine. It is the only FDA approved topical product for hair loss at this time. Other products that claim to treat hair loss are not approved by the FDA.

Monoxidil works best the sooner you start it and only if you use it twice a day. Reports vary on its effectiveness, however. Some say that Rogaine stops hair from falling out while others say it simply grows short fuzzy hairs, often referred to as peach fuzz.

There is also oral monoxidil, though side effects such lower blood pressure, increased heart rate, and weight gain due to fluid retention make this an inadvisable product for many people.

There are other medication treatments for hair loss in the works that should have FDA approval soon.

Hair Transplant

A hair transplant or hair grafting involves moving hair from the sides or back of the head to bald areas of the scalp. For this to work, you must have a lot of hair on the sides or back of the scalp. Other factors such as curliness, color, and thickness can affect the results of this procedure. Prosthetic hair fibers for transplantation are banned by FDA, so you can’t buy new hair to have implanted into your scalp. Hair transplantation does not typically work for women, since their hair loss is a scalp-wide thinning.

Scalp Reduction

A scalp reduction is the surgical removal of large sections of a bald scalp. Elastic devices such as extenders and expanders are placed beneath the skin to stretch the hair-bearing scalp regions to cover a greater portion of the head.

Hair Flap

Another method of hair replacement is the hair flap, which rotates hair-bearing areas to bald areas. There are many potential complications with the flap technique though, so make sure you understand them before you agree to this technique.

Women’s Hair Loss

At this point, there is little women can do to deal with hair loss. However, Rogaine does have a product that can help with female baldness, though results vary. There are many products on the market that claim to thicken hair, but in actuality many of these products seem to thicken hair by coating it with chemicals and helping it to retain moisture so each individual hair swells slightly. The effectiveness of these products is minimal, though it may help hair loss appear less, particularly if the thinning is not severe.

In Conclusion

Hair replacement is a growing industry. Though there is no complete cure for hair loss right now, research shows us that in time there will be many other viable options. If you are contemplating hair replacement, talk to your health care provider. They will let you know what options are available for you.

External Links

• Hair Transplant Network
• Hair Club