Hope For Women Suffering Hair Loss

After Hair Restoration

Your options depend on the type of hair loss you have, the degree of hair loss you currently experience, and the cosmetic goals you have for restoring lost hair.

By: Natasha Morgan

The experts over at Bosley, a hair restoration firm with offices all over the U.S. and Mexico, have provided me with more answers to my questions about hair loss.

What suggestions can the hair loss experts offer to give hope to women suffering from hair loss?

The process and rate of hair loss vary from one individual to another. Whether it is slow or rapid, at a young age or older, you should not ignore the problem. Seek out your doctors, and discuss treatment options and proper diet and nutrition intake, to help promote hair health and slow down hair loss.

Your first step should be to educate yourself and understand what options are available to you for your particular type and degree of hair loss.  Bosley offers all FDA approved hair loss treatments as well as surgical hair restoration.

Generally speaking, your available options depend on the type of hair loss you have, the degree of hair loss you currently experience, and the cosmetic goals you have for restoring lost hair.  Propecia and Minoxidil treatments, as well as laser therapy with the Bosley LaserComb are most effective in retaining existing hair, but are not as effective in regrowing lost hair.  All are temporary solutions in that any benefits received in retaining or restoring hair are lost if you stop treatment.

For those with more advanced hair loss who are looking to restore hair, and not merely retain their existing hair, surgical hair restoration is the most likely solution. Put simply, the procedure involves taking healthy follicles from the donor area (side or back of head) and transplanting them to troubled areas – areas that need more hair.

Do over-the-counter products help reduce hair loss?

Treatments such as Rogaine and Propecia can be used to  slow balding and retain what hair is left on the head, but neither is particularly effective in restoring lost hair – especially on top of the head and along the hairline.  Neither treatment cures  baldness; any benefits received are  lost within a few months after the drug is stopped. The manufacturer Johnson & Johnson would tell you that their product is not effective in the frontal area, which is the area of most concern to most patients, especially the frontal hairline. They claim that approximately 8-10% of users achieve cosmetically effective growth and another 20% get vellus (or peach fuzz) growth.

Would you explain “permanent restoration”?

Hair restoration is a relatively simple procedure that actually restores hair. It achieves a natural look. The hair transplant procedure takes hair follicles from the very back and sides of the head and artfully transplants them to thinning or balding areas. So we can take hair from where you have more than you need (back of head) and put it where you need it more (front of head). It’s the ideal solution to baldness because it uses your own hair.

Hair transplants can help people experiencing every level of hair loss as long as the patient has enough hair in the donor area. And for the vast majority of patients, virtually all transplanted hair lasts a lifetime. However, in some cases a small percentage of transplanted hair may be lost as the patient ages.

Hair restoration is a relatively simple outpatient procedure. Many of our patients go to work the very next day. And side effects of hair transplantation are almost minor. Infection occurrences after a procedure are rare. In the very few cases where infection does occur, it is often due to the patient’s failure to fully follow post-operative instructions. Even when infection occurs, it generally is easily treatable with antibiotics, which can be prescribed by the physician.

For more information on hair loss see: Causes of hair loss in women.

* Please keep in mind that hair loss and its treatments are medical considerations. And with everything of the medical nature, you and your readers should seek the opinions of your qualified physicians.