The more I work on this website, and the more I delve into the subject of hair loss, the more fascinated I become at the complexity of this condition. It isn’t what I would personally consider a real disease in the sense that it can harm your health (mind you it has been correlated with heart disease, but correlation does not imply causality), but it is a rather big nuisance for men and women who suffer from it. It can hit people at any age in various forms, but the most common is male pattern baldness in the form of androgenetic alopecia. And this, my good friend, is a complex condition with many, many factors at play. This is why the most effective treatments to-date that have been approved to treat it (Rogaine and Propecia) are a far cry from being 100% effective. Reversing hair loss is not an easy thing to do. We can transfer hair from the parts of the scalp that are less susceptible to the ravages of androgenetic alopecia to bald or balding areas, but we haven’t found the holy grail yet.
That’s where hair cloning, gene therapy, stem cell therapy and a whole slew of future treatments come into play.
…maybe…
Researchers are working at getting to the bottom of how to ‘cure’ hair loss and they are making progress in each of these areas. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. I am optimistic, but realistic in my expectations as well. Understanding something that appears so simple, like hair, is actually VERY complex, and research that can cure hair loss can potentially be applied to curing other conditions and solving other physical problems. For instance, Dr. Khadavi mentions that it is like trying to grow a new limb (see my interview with Dr. K.).
For now, if Propecia and Rogaine aren’t giving you the results you want, and if shaving your head completely bald, or just living with your hair loss is out of the question for you, the best alternative is either a hair piece, or a hair transplant. I have recently added the first set of pics in our Community Galleries section of a fellow by the name of Robert who had a transplant operation performed about 3.5 months ago. Robert used to be a Norwood 6. He is now a Norwood 3V. This is a pretty amazing transformation. Check out his pics here.
There are options. If you’re considering a hair transplant, do lot’s of homework first. We will be providing a lot more information to help you put together a treatment plan for your hair loss, and also to help you learn more about hair transplants and your various other options. Stay tuned.