Treating Hairloss

Hairloss Treatments used to be realm of the shaman and the medicine man. In Ancient Egypt they devoted entire temples to the business of growing hair where they would burn special “hair growth incense” and apply a salve of pigeon droppings onto the head of the prospective hairloss patient.

Today those seeking a hairloss treatment have many more viable options to choose from. Up until about 50 years ago hairloss treatments usually involved either a really bad-looking hair transplant or electro-shock therapy that would stimulate the hair follicles. Things have changed drastically.

In the 80’s the pharmaceutical company Pfizer introduced a blood pressure medication called Rogaine that just so happened to have as its chief side effect the ability to not only stop hairloss but also promote new hair regrowth by reinvigorating the damaged follicles. And though Rogaine doesn’t work for everybody, nearly 50-60% of patients report new hair growth, become one of the most popular hairloss treatments with its ability to seemingly do the impossible.

Then in the 90’s along came a competitor in the form of Propecia. This hairloss treatment instead of dealing with the hair follicle actually attacked the cause of hairloss itself, namely the conversion of testosterone into DHT. This conversion is responsible for shrinking and damaging the follicles that leads to hairloss. Propecia wasn’t as good at hair regrowth, that wasn’t its job, but for stemming existing hairloss, it was quite effective making it the most popular of hairloss treatments.

Perhaps the most exciting hairloss treatment for patients is the development of the hair transplant. Once a crude and artificial- looking strategy in dealing with hairloss, technological advances allowed the amount of donor hair to become smaller and smaller, from 20-30 hair follicles to the standard today of 1-4, so that hair restoration surgeons could create a sturdy and natural-looking head of hair. Something the Ancient Egyptians would have appreciated. They also would have appreciated the trained staff at Pistone Hair Restoration who can answer any question you might have.