How Hair Falling Out Can Be Stopped

Hair loss that can affect men and women. Although the science of hair restoration remains imperfect, strides have been made. There are safe and effective treatments available to help slow or stop your hair from falling out. There is even a permanent solution available to most men and women. If your hair is falling out, it would help to become familiar with the cause and the treatments that can help stop it.

Cause

While hair thinning may be triggered by numerous medical conditions, The Foundation of Hair Restoration informs us that "androgenic alopecia" is to blame for 95 percent of cases. Androgenic alopecia happens when excess amounts of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), shrinks scalp hair follicles that are not genetically programmed to withstand excess levels of the hormone. Hairs shed prematurely and the follicles are progressively miniaturized.

Medical Treatments

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves 5 percent strength minoxidil for men and 2 percent minoxidil for women. The International Association of Hair Restoration Surgery says that minoxidil has been used for for more than 15 years in clinical trials. How minoxidil works to prevent hair loss is still unclear but it is believed to promote hair growth by increasing blood flow to the scalp. Finasteride is an FDA-approved tablet that is used once a day specifically to treat male pattern baldness. The American Hair Loss Association (AHLA) says that finasteride may decrease dihydrotestosterone blood levels by 60 percent. Furthermore, the association deems finasteride as "the first line of attack" for adult men fighting to treat baldness.

Shampoo

Unfortunately, most shampoos that are formulated to stop hair loss are disappointingly ineffective and have no clinical trials to back up their claims. Ketoconazole, however, is the working ingredient in Nizoral shampoo and is scientifically established to help treat hair loss. In a Belgian clinical trial entitled "Ketoconazole: effect of long-term use in androgenic alopecia," available in the 1998 edition of the "Journal of Dermatology," scientists reported that ketoconazole shampoo helped increase hair thickness as much as 2 percent minoxidil. Belgian researchers established that ketoconazole shampoo may well be valuable in the long-term treatment of pattern hair thinning. Ketoconazole can be used by males and females.

Expert Insight

Dr. Robert Bernstein, hair restoration surgeon and Professor at Columbia University, notes that finasteride and minoxidil will be effective on hair line as well as the crown. Dr. Bernstein suggests on BernsteinMedical.com, that although finasteride and minoxidil was clinically tested to regrow areas affected by hair loss on the the top of the scalp, finasteride "can definitely" start to regrow areas of thinning hair on the frontal hair line as long as there is some hair remaining. Dr. Bernstein recommends using finasteride and minoxidil for at least one year before evaluating their effectiveness.

Solution

Non-surgical hair loss treatments will help slow androgenic alopecia and may begin to regrow your hair. But only a surgical hair transplantation surgery will permanently restore density. The Foundation for Hair Restoration documents how the surgery works. Hair is transplanted from the "donor area" at the back of the head which has hair that cannot be miniaturized by dihyrdotestosterone. This hair is moved to spots anywhere hair has become thin. The transplanted hair grows forever without becoming thin. A good hair transplant will look like regular hair and not be noticed.