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Email this articlePossible cures for hair loss
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By Melissa Heckscher
The back flaps of men's magazines have been touting miracle hair loss "cures" for decades:
"End Baldness now!"
"Grow your hair ... fast!"
"Thinning hair? Try this!"
The newest antidote in the battle against baldness uses lasers - pulses of concentrated light - to regrow and thicken lost or thinning hair. But unlike the snake oils of years gone by, this treatment may actually work.
"Feel good about your hair again!" proclaims the Web site for the HairMax LaserComb, a relatively simple at-home device purported to stimulate hair growth.
"Thicker, fuller, healthier hair is possible."
It might be. In February, the Food and Drug Administration approved the LaserComb as an effective treatment for hair loss, making it the first nondrug hair loss treatment approved by the FDA. Until now, Propecia and Rogaine had been the only approved solutions.
The news comes as no surprise to hair loss clinics across the country, many of which have been using in-office laser therapy for years.
"The fact that the theory has received FDA approval ... that is the beginning of legitimacy in this industry," said Marilyn Wayne, owner of the Hair Solutions hair-loss clinic in Torrance, who said she has seen laser therapy give full heads of hair to men and women who had been previously thinning.
"Throughout history, there have been an awful lot of people who have touted everything from cow manure on the head to God knows what."
The evidence for the LaserComb is compelling. According to clinical trials, 93 percent of participants using the comb saw an increase in the number of thick hairs, and none reported any serious adverse reactions.
Even without FDA approval, hair restoration clinics have used laser machines for more than a decade. In-office treatments use laser "hoods" or "domes," under which patients sit for
30 minutes three times a week.
The in-office treatment costs about
$3,000 per year.
And even though the LaserComb, which costs $545, is the only FDA-approved device, the hoods used in physicians' offices use the same technology.
According to Randy Veliky, chief operating officer of HairMax, laser therapy works by stimulating the scalp, thereby increasing circulation to the hair follicles. It also triggers the hair follicles to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the cells' primary source of energy.
"The laser energy is being converted into ATP just like a plant converts sunlight into energy," Veliky said.
The result, he said, is that weakened hair follicles start growing new hair, and existing hair gets thicker.
It's not exactly a miracle cure, he noted. Laser therapy won't grow a mop of hair on a completely bald head.
"If the scalp gets shiny because it's been dried up, constricted, shrunk, you've gone too far," he said. "If we can catch a hair follicle that has been dormant for a year or two, then we can save it."
But saving hair is a big commitment, and laser treatment - as is the case with Propecia and Rogaine - must be continued indefinitely.
"If you stop using it, your hair will return to the state that it was in before you started using it," Veliky said. "It's a commitment. ... like brushing your teeth."
To some people, especially women who have fewer options when it comes to hair loss therapies, keeping the hair on their head is worth the lifetime ritual of either once-a-week laser therapy (treatment is three times a week for the first year; once a week thereafter) or twice-daily Rogaine.
Propecia, generally considered the most effective treatment for men (besides transplants) is not approved for women; in addition, women aren't always good candidates for hair transplant surgery since their hair tends to thin all over the scalp, leaving no viable pieces to transplant.
"Women do not deal well with losing their hair," said Wayne, adding that about 60 percent of her clients are female. "It' a constant source of embarrassment."
According to the American Hair Loss Association, at least half of women in the United States will experience some form of hair loss by the time they are 50.
Many doctors, including Paul Straub of the Straub Medical Center Hair Restoration Clinic in Torrance, wanted FDA approval before incorporating the laser treatment into their programs.
"I've seen a vast number of lotions and potions and nonapproved things come and go," said Straub, who has been treating hair loss since 1972 using surgical procedures and drug therapies. "I personally did not trust without testing."
Straub said laser therapy isn't as effective as Propecia or hair transplant surgery - it's about as effective as Rogaine, he said, which studies show works well in about 20 percent to 40 percent of users. But now that it's approved, he plans on selling the LaserComb as a supplement to other treatments.
"We have to use every available thing we have to help grow the hair,"
Straub said. "It's not going to be one absolute magic formula."
Possible cures for hair loss
Minoxidil (Rogaine)
Availability: Nonprescription.
Application: Apply topically twice a day to area of scalp requiring treatment.
How it works: While doctors aren't exactly sure how it works, it is thought to increase circulation and thereby stimulate hair growth.
Works best on: Patients with newly thinning hair.
Results: Takes several months to stimulate hair growth, if at all.
Drawbacks: Application can be messy. Results last only as long as the product is used (hair will return to pretreatment condition if application is stopped).
Possible side-effects: Itching, redness and irritation.
Cost: About $300 a year.
Laser therapy (in-office or LaserComb)
Availability: Nonprescription.
Application: Use three times a week for first year; once a week thereafter.
(In-office "dome" treatment is 30 minutes; comb is 15-20 minutes.)
How it works: Laser stimulates scalp to promote hair growth.
Results: Takes up to six months to see results.
Drawbacks: Hair growth stops when treatment stops. Can be tedious.
Possible side-effects: No known side-effects.
Cost: LaserComb, $545; in-office treatment, about $3,000 a year.
Finasteride (Propecia)
Availability: Sold by prescription.
Application: Pill taken daily.
How it works: Blocks enzymes that inhibit the growth of hair follicles.
Results: Takes at least three months to see results.
Drawbacks: New hair will be lost within one year after medication is stopped. Not for use on women (may cause serious birth defects in male fetuses).
Possible side-effects: Decreased libido, decreased ejaculate, dizziness, diarrhea, abdominal pain and back pain.
Cost: $500-$1,000 a year.
Hair transplant surgery
Availability: Surgical procedure.
Application: Outpatient procedure.
How it works: Doctor takes tiny plugs of skin, each containing one to several hairs, from the back or side of the scalp and implants them into bald sections.
Results: Generally noticeable within six months to a year.
Drawbacks: Several transplant sessions may be needed as hair loss progresses. Expensive. Can be painful. Women aren't always good candidates for this therapy (patient must have
thick hairs to transplant and women with thinning hair generally have thin hair all over scalp).
Possible side-effects: Temporary numbness at transplant site.
Infection.
Cost: About $4,000 and up depending on amount of hair transplanted.
Sources: The American Hair Loss
Association, www.MayoClinic.com; www.hairlossspecialists.com
melissa.heckscher@dailybreeze.com
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