ALOPECIA TREATMENTS

Successful treatment of underlying causes is most likely to restore hair growth, be it the completion of chemotherapy, effective cure of a scalp fungus, or control of a systemic disease. Two relatively new drugs--minoxidil (Rogaine) and finasteride (Proscar)--promote hair growth in a significant minority of patients, especially those with male pattern baldness and alopecia areata. While both drugs have so far proved to be quite safe when used for this purpose, minoxidil is a liquid that is applied to the scalp and finasteride is the first and only approved treatment in a pill form.

Minoxidil was approved for over-the-counter sales in 1996. When used continuously for long periods of time, minoxidil produces satisfactory results in about one quarter of patients with androgenic alopecia and as many as half the patients with alopecia areata. There is also an over-the-counter extra-strength version of minoxidil (5% concentration) approved for use by men only. The treatment often results in new hair that is thinner and lighter in color. It is important to note that new hair stops growing soon after the use of minoxidil is discontinued.

Over the past few decades there have appeared a multitude of hair replacement methods performed by both physicians and non-physicians. They range from simply weaving someone else's hair in with the remains of your own to surgically transplanting thousands of hair follicles one at a time.

Hair transplantation is completed by taking tiny plugs of skin, each containing one to several hairs, from the back side of the scalp. The bald sections are then implanted with the plugs. Research completed in 2000 looked at the new technique of hair grafting, and found that micrografts (One to two hairs transplanted per follicle) resulted in fewer complications and the best results

Another surgical procedure used to treat androgenic alopecia is scalp reduction. By stretching skin the hairless scalp can be removed and the area of bald skin decreased by closing the space with hair-covered scalp. Hair-bearing skin can also be folded over an area of bald skin with a technique called a flap.