Written By: Dr Anitha Anchan | Updated : September 25, 2014 2:40 PM IST
If medicinal treatment is not available for your type of hair loss, you may consider cosmetic or surgical measures.
COSMETIC MEASURES
You can disguise your hair loss by various hairstyles or wigs, hairpieces, hair weaves and extensions, hair fibre powders or artificial hair replacement.If your hair loss isn't very apparent, you can easily cover up or comb over the affected areas. If it is more severe and chronic, you can wear hairpieces. You can also go for the fashionable look - shave your head and go bald.
Hairfibre powders: You can cover up thinning hair areas with coloured, powdery fibre sprinkles that are commercially available. These coloured sprinkles attach to hair and give a fuller appearance!
Hairpieces: They are often the least expensive and safest way to deal with baldness. You can use hair weaving to add hair temporarily. A mesh is attached to your remaining hair and artificial hair of similar colour and texture is woven with existing hair or attached to the scalp with glue, metal clips or tape. Hairpieces are made from human or synthetic hair. However, you need to be aware that they may stretch, oxidize and loosen.
SURGICAL HAIR RESTORATION
Includes various types of hair transplantation (taking hair from the back and adding it in areas of hair loss) or scalp reduction (cutting away bald areas and stitching the rest together).
Hair transplants: Surgical restoration is the only permanent solution to baldness; they are useful to 'fill in' bald areas. Tiny plugs of your hair are removed from areas where hair is thicker and placed in areas that are balding. You may have minor scarring at the site of hair removal. The procedure also carries a slight risk for skin infection. You may need many transplantation sessions. However, the results are often excellent and permanent. More about the hair transplant procedure from our interview with Dr Akshay Batra, renowned trichologist.
Platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapy: Platelet rich plasma is concentrated blood plasma and contains the growth factors PDGF and VEGF and other proteins that aid in wound healing. It is being actively tested in hair transplantation. PRP can be used to stimulate the growth of follicles, thereby reversing hair miniaturization seen in androgenic alopecia and even preventing hair loss.
Scalp Reduction: In this procedure, bald areas are cut away and the rest of scalp is stitched together. This procedure is done if you have well-defined bald spots in the crown area of the scalp. It is sometimes done along with hair transplantation to reduce the size of the bald scalp.
Tissue Expansion: Tissue expanders are inserted beneath an area of hairy scalp and gradually inflated with saline water over a period of six to eight weeks. This stretches the hair-bearing skin, thus increasing the amount of hair-bearing scalp. After removing the bags, expanded hair bearing skin is moved to an adjacent bald area where a similar sized patch of scalp has been excised or cut away. It is most useful when you have hair loss associated with scarring due to burns and other injuries to the scalp.
Astressin B Peptides:Stress plays a major role in the loss of hair. Blocking a stress-related hormone called corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) associated with hair loss can help regain hair. The stress hormone blocker, known as astressin-B, has strong and long-lasting effects. Investigations and trials are being done to determine the efficacy of astressin-B in human hair growth.
Extracellular Matrix (ECM): It is a natural biological material that can be implanted at the site of damaged tissue to stimulate healing. It stimulates the body's own cells to form new tissue specific to that site (Auto-cloning). It also facilitates the healing after a hair transplant.
Capixyl: It prevents hair miniaturization, favours better hair anchoring and reduces inflammation (an aggravating factor in hair loss).
Hair multiplication (or hair cloning) Still in the research phase, the concept of hair multiplication is to extract donor hair cells from the existing hair follicles and then multiply them in a lab. Once enough hair cells are multiplied, they are then injected back into your balding areas, thus stimulating hair growth. Considerable work remains before hair cloning methods become a viable treatment for hair loss.
With so many treatment options available for hair loss now, you don't need to lose your head over losing your hair. Consult your Trichologist today!
Also read: Hair loss treatment: Medications
