Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Hair Restoration - Unbald You're Head

Baldness, or balding, is a fact of life for many men and some women. Some people are concerned about their appearance and the balding bothers them. If you are concerned about baldness, there are options that you could consider to change your appearance.

Causes of Hair Loss


There are a number of reasons that people go bald or are balding. The most common reason is that it runs in the family - it is hereditary. In these cases, you know it will happen. You may not like it, but it is inevitable.

Pysical or emotional stress may also cause you to loose hair. The hair loss could be a little at a time or in clumps. In these cases, you will find that the hair loss will disappear when the stress is gone.

If you have medical issues with your thyroid, you may notice some hair loss. This is a common side-effect to problems with the thyroid.

If you are taking medications such as blood pressure medication or medication for gout, you may experience some hair loss. Too much vitamin A may be another culprit.

Hormone levels changes are also a reason that people experience hair loss.

Options for Hair Restoration


There are a number of hair restoration options to consider, depending on the amount of hair you would like to replace, as well as the reason for the hair loss.

There are medications such as Propecia (Finasteride) that have been proven to be approximately 85% effective in slowing down hair loss. Propecia comes in pill form that needs to be prescribed by your doctor. It is best used as an aid for moderate hair loss.

Rogaine is the most common topical ointment for hair restoration. There are other brands available but none of them have proved to be very effective. In fact, studies show them to be less than 50% effective. Having said that, there are a number of factors that need to be taken into account such as the type or brand of ointment used, the amount of hair loss, as well as the hair loss reason. This is also deemed to be the slowest process for hair restoration as it can take a year or more of use to start seeing any results. A medical concern is an increase in the risk of bleeding if any surgery is required because these topical ointments dilate the blood vessels in the scalp.

The most recommended and most successful hair restoration method is surgical procedure, but a good surgeon will recommend that you try the other two methods first.

Hair Restoration Surgical Procedure


The surgical method for hair restoration is mainly a hair transplant. It should only be done by a qualified surgeon.

Things that you and your surgeon should discuss include your age, the possible color contrasts in hair restoration results, the diameter of your follicle shafts, the texture of your hair, and the reason for your hair loss.

People who have had hair transplant done have reported varying results from it being a permanent solution to needing to have had more surgeries to maintain the hair.

There is no permanent solution to hair restoration although it appears that the surgical method is the most promising.