Hair loss news

After getting a formal diagnosis of your hair loss condition from your doctor, you may be recommended treatment such as medication.

However, with some conditions, treatment of a medical kind is not needed and you simply need to wait for the hair to grow back. For example, hair that falls out after childbirth – the trauma on the body causes hair loss – will generally grow again between six months and two years later.

Regrowth is also expected when hair is lost due to illness, fever, radiation therapy or major surgery, starting when the illness or therapy ends.

It can be a comfort to some people with hair loss to know that their hair will eventually grow back on its own, but what about while you are waiting for it to happen? Hair loss can seriously damage your self-esteem and confidence in your appearance, negatively affecting the way you interact with the world and your home and work life.

Many female hair loss sufferers choose to wear human hair wigs, hats or scarves to disguise their hair loss whilst waiting for the hair to grow. If you have been told by your doctor that your hair may take a long time to return, you could also consider hair replacement treatments which use natural hair extensions to cover bald patches and thinning hair.

If you have been diagnosed with a hair loss condition, one of the first things you are likely to ask about is treatment. As it is unlikely that there will be an outright cure for your condition, you will need to look at other options.

The following are just a few of the hair loss treatment options you can look into:

Medication

Minoxidil is the most tried and tested treatment for hair loss in women and men. In some cases it causes hair regrowth, whilst in others it causes the rate of hair loss to slow down.

Hair transplant surgery

Although the technique has become highly refined over the years, hair transplant surgery can still be a painful and invasive procedure. Mainly used on men, it does have successful results, but people considering this option should put a lot of thought into their decision.

Hair replacement

There are many advanced alternatives to surgery available these days. A couple of new treatments -the Intralace system and Medi Connections – integrate fine, natural-looking hair extensions into existing hair to disguise patches of hair loss.

Human hair wigs

Available in a wide range of styles and colours, a lot of human hair wigs these days are natural-looking and customisable.

Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder in which the person with the condition is unable to stop themselves pulling out their own hair. It is not a condition that is talked about much, but it can destroy people’s lives and self-esteem.

However, there are a number of treatment options available for people who have been diagnosed with trichotillomania. These include:

Habit reversal training

This is a kind of behaviour therapy which teaches people with the condition to identify the conditions in which urge to pull hair arises. Through relaxation and other techniques, they are taught new responses and new behaviours. These are called ‘competing responses’ and could be something as simple as squeezing a stress toy with the hand they use to pull out hair.

Cognitive therapy

This is used to deal with any kinds of distorted thinking the sufferer experiences in relation to stress and its consequential hair-pulling behaviour.

Medication

Medication can be used as part of a treatment programme for trichotillomania, particularly an anti-depressant medication known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). This medication can help in controlling very intense urges, such as the urge to pull hair.

For most women suffering from hair loss or thinning, the first thing they want to know is whether there is an effective treatment available for hair loss.

The first point to remember with hair loss treatment is that there is no ‘wonder cure’, although there are many organisations and individuals looking to make money by selling you such medication or ointments.
The next thing to bear in mind is that the treatment for hair loss depends a great deal on the condition itself, the person and their medical history, and even psychological or environmental factors.

Alopecia treatment

As yet, there is no cure for alopecia that has proven to be 100% effective. There are some creams, lotions and injections that can encourage hair to grow, but they don’t always work. For most people (60 – 80% of cases) hair grows back on its own.

Female pattern baldness

A lot of people with female pattern baldness, a hereditary condition, use medication called minoxidil to treat their hair loss. Most people do notice improvements, and up to 25 per cent of female hair loss sufferers experience regrowth.

The only proven treatment for female-pattern baldness is minoxidil. Most users see improvements, including a halt to the balding or slowing down of it, as well as thicker hair. Up to 25% of women experience hair regrowth.

Researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles may have come up with a cure for stress-related hair loss.

Scientists were focusing on a study of gut function in mice with hair loss or alopecia when they accidentally came across a treatment for hair loss induced by stress, in the form of a daily injection. It was found that by injecting a number of bald laboratory mice over five days with astressin-B, a compound that blocks the way the body normally responds to stress, the mice regrew their hair.

Although they did not set out to study hair loss or growth, the UCLA scientists appear to have created a treatment for hair loss that surpasses others available at present. The regrowth in hair for the mice lasted for up to four months (after five days of treatment) and the hair was thicker than expected.

The leader of the research team, Dr. Mulugeta Million, commented on the findings, saying:

“What we can reasonably say is that the antagonist initiates the hair cycle…In bald individuals, and in these mice, the hair follicles are in a resting stage. The antagonist awakes them. It turns on the cycle, and the growing phase starts.”

This discovery could be a major breakthrough in the treatment of stress-related hair loss conditions such as alopecia.

Trichotillomania, the compulsive hair-pulling disorder, is not a condition that is talked of much in the public sphere. This is mainly because sufferers are embarrassed to admit to pulling their own hair out, and so many conditions go undiagnosed.

Once this hair loss condition has been diagnosed, however, it’s time to think about treatment. Even though research into trichotillomania has advanced a great deal over the last few years, there is no one definitive treatment known to ‘cure’ all sufferers.

However, there are numerous treatment offers you can try, some of which have been successful at improving the condition. These include:

• Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy – This is a type of therapy that aims to change behaviour by pinpointing exactly what causes a person to pull their hair. The patient will learn new responses to identified triggers, helped by a psychologist.

• Medications – Drug therapy has not proved to be very successful for trichotillomania patients, although it does work for some. Seek advice from your doctor if you are considering medication.

• Alternative Therapies – Some people choose to try herbal remedies, yoga, dietary changes, hypnosis, meditation and prayer.

• Support Groups – As with any female hair loss condition, talking about how trichotillomania affects you with other sufferers can be really helpful.

There are now many hair replacement options out there for women with hair loss, but you need to ensure that the treatment you choose is safe. You also need to choose a solution that won’t damage the scalp or hair follicles any further, as well as allowing hair to grow back in its own time.

Some of the most effective kinds of hair replacement solutions available at present are those which utilise specially designed hair extension systems. For example:

• Medi Connections – This is a system designed to cover patchy hair loss or thinning hair. It uses super-fine, naturally looking hair extensions to disguise hair loss, and can also be used to boost hair volume.

• The Intralace System – This is similar to Medi Connections, but uses a fine mesh to integrate extensions into existing hair. It is suitable for people with moderate to severe hair loss.

Provided you visit a high-quality hair loss and replacement specialist, these treatments should be perfectly safe. They are designed to be breathable and non-damaging to hair, and they also allow natural regrowth.

If you have any doubts about safety, you simply need to check that the bonding adhesive used to attach hair extensions is safe and also milder than the industrial bonding agents widely used in hair salons. You should also ensure that a test patch is done before any adhesives or other substances are applied to the hair or skin.

There are numerous hair loss treatments available now, some of which we have looked at already. Some of them may work for you, whilst some may be a waste of time and money. The best way to find out is to consult your doctor and to do as much research on each as possible.

To point you in the right direction, here are a few pros and cons of one more hair loss treatment. This treatment is suitable for people with more than 50 per cent hair loss.

UVB treatment

This is similar to PUVA treatment, except that it uses a different wavelength of ultraviolet (UV) light. It is often used to treat people with more than 90 per cent hair loss, as well as those with skin conditions.

Pros: This treatment is often free on the NHS.
Cons: It is time-consuming, as you have to stand in a UV cubicle (or sun bed) for two to three times a week. Each session will need to be increasingly longer.
Cons: You are likely to experience painful burning of the skin and an increased risk of skin cancer, like with PUVA.
Cons: This treatment has rarely proven to be effective at improving hair growth.

We’ve already looked at a couple of the most commonly used hair loss treatments for people with less than 50 per cent hair loss, but what about more severe cases?

As with treatments for milder conditions, there are many options available for people with more than 50 per cent hair loss. These options can often be expensive, invasive and ineffective, so it is useful to know the pros and cons of each before making a final decision.

PUVA treatment

PUVA (psoralen + UVA) treatment involves taking a light-sensitive drug then undergoing a brief exposure to UVA light.

Pro: This treatment only takes three to six weeks to complete
Con: It is quite time consuming, as two to three sessions a week are required
Pro: It can be effective for more recent hair loss
Cons: The treatment does not have a very encouraging success rate at just 6 -12 per cent

Immunosuppressive medication

Pros: The treatment is designed to suppress the immune system so that the hair will have a chance to regrow
Cons: As it suppresses the immune system, the risk of infection is higher
Pros: This treatment is available on prescription via the NHS

If you notice your hair is starting to thin or fall out, the first thing to do is to go and see your doctor to get a formal diagnosis. Your doctor may refer you to a hair loss specialist, or they may prescribe or recommend a treatment.

There are a lot of treatments for hair loss now available, but not all of them may be worth the time and money for everyone.

If you are diagnosed with having less than 50 per cent hair loss, the following treatments may be available to you. Here are their pros and cons:

Topical Minoxidil (also known as Regaine or Rogaine)

Pro: This medicine has been known to be relatively effective on people with patchy hair loss
Con: It does not normally work for people with alopecia totalis or universalis
Pro: Although not available on prescription, a 5% solution of this medicine (lasting one month) costs around £20 online
Con: Side effects may include scalp irritation, itching or scaling.

Corticosteroids

Pro: This treatment, administered via lotion, cream or injection, is generally very effective in mild cases of alopecia.
Con: If taken for a long time, corticosteroids can lower the body’s ability to fight off infections
Pro: This medication is available on prescription
Pro: It takes around 4 to 6 months to show noticeable improvement