Hair today Gone Tommorrow

Balding is not something anyone would look forward to. Even though we are unable to stop aging we can help ourselves when it comes to hair loss.

Our hair does get thinner as we age and more for some than others but with today's medications and creams etc we may be able to slow this down.

I have looked into many hair loss remedies and have found some that are better than others in how they say the can slow down hair loss and some even say they will help your existing hair grow more and stronger. I do not know about that but have heard of some of the good some of them do.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Hair Loss Treatments For Women

By Alice Barnes

Womens hair loss poses some different challenges that hair loss in men. Most of the work that has been done on hair loss treatments has been focused on getting hair to grow on a mans head instead of a womans. It has only recently been that women had any options other than a wig.

A wig does a good job of covering up the hair loss but it is not practical for an active woman. Wigs tend to fall off when the woman moves around too much. Women today want to be able to ride their Harley, ski the back country, and go jet boating.

These physical activities have forced the medical establishment to look at hair loss treatments for women. Some of the old methods used by men can be applied to females and some can't. With the high numbers of women looking for relief from hair loss a lot of research is being conducted into this problem.

The main cause of hair loss in both women and men is androgen alopecia or pattern baldness. This is caused by a build up of DHT at the blood supply for the hair follicles. This buildup slows down and eventually halts the transfer of nutrients to the follicle roots which eventually causes it to die. Treatment of this condition is necessary for control of hair loss.

DHT, which is short for dihydrotestosterone, is a byproduct of the metabolism of testosterone. This is known as the male hormone but in actuality it is found in both men and women. An effective treatment for this condition in men is the drug Finasteride which is marketed at Propecia. This FDA approved drug was originally designed to treat male prostrate problems.

Unfortunately, this drug has a nasty side effect of causing birth defects so it is not prescribed for childbearing age women. Another drug that is used by women is Minoxidil or Rogaine. This medication works to increase the blood flow to the hair follicles and thus improve hair growth.

Another hair loss procedure that women historically have not been able to use is hair implantation. With female pattern baldness the woman usually experiences thinning hair over the entire scalp along with the bald spots. The standard hair implant procedure requires removing a portion of scalp with hair growth to use as a donation area. Since the majority of women don't have thick hair growing anywhere on their head they did not have a good donor area.

The solution to this is a procedure known as Follicular Unit Extraction. With this method individual hair units can be removed from any part of the body and transplanted onto the balding area. Now women can have long lasting hair implants as another method of hair loss treatment.

As more and more women demand hair loss treatments that work, more products and procedures are coming on line. Wigs are no longer the only method of treating hair loss in women.

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