This is an article which is probably long overdue. The topic of treatments and transplants. Which is right? Which is best?
The first question I always ask when someone walks into our office is: What are you hoping we can do for you? Some people look at me like “Well it’s your job to tell me” and I tell them that we have a wide array of technology at our disposal to help you with your hair loss – each delivers a different result and serves as a different function. It depends on what you want?
I WANT TO BE CLEAR HERE. THIS IS COSMETIC SURGERY – IT’S MY JOB TO HELP YOU BE HAPPY WHEN YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR.
I have had guys and girls walk in with more hair than I can believe saying they don’t like how thin their hair is. I have also had guys walk in with Homer Simpson hair happy where they are at and just wanting keep what little hair they have left – I get it all – at the end of the day it’s your perception of what you want that guides me with you through the process on the journey to get more hair.
That being said, here’s the science behind the technologies we have available.
1) Treatments work. End of story. That’s it. When I say treatments I am referring to 3 in particular.
a) Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy a) Laser Light Therapy b) Propecia c) Rogaine
I’ll go into detail on the functions of these in a later article due to the length and time to cover these; however, sufficed it to say that these 3 treatments have been scientifically proven to work in combating hair loss.
Here’s the issue: what does “proven to work” mean? I have seen these treatments work over and over again; however, I always read online – “they don’t work, it didn’t work for me what a rip-off, it’s fake!”
These comments have been contrary to what I have seen over the past several years so I started asking patients when they came in who said they were on them and they didn’t work why they felt they didn’t work. I found the results very interesting. Reasons were :
1) Well, I didn’t get any hair back
2) I used it for 3 months and nothing happened
3) I used it for a year and I saw no change.
I know facepalm my hand to head and smack head on the desk.
You see – people don’t have a very accurate definition of what “work” means.
1) Well, I didn’t get any hair back
I Look at the guy or girl and one of a few things happens.
A) The area they wanted to “grow” hair back didn’t have any hair! We do not yet have the technology to grow hair back once it is dormant. The only hair we can improve upon is visible hair (either with the naked eye or upon magnified view with use of technological devices). I have had people completely bald complaining it didn’t work! Well of course not! That’s not what it is mean or designed to do. I’m going to cut everyone some slack here and say that there is a lot of fake advertising and in the hair loss industry in general which may confuse things; however, not one legit place has ever said LLLT would grow back hair that is gone. It just can’t, won’t, doesn’t work that way.
B) I explain that the most important function of LLLT is to PREVENT future hair loss not THICKEN!!!! Here’s the deal. The sooner you start LLLT the better it will work. It will prevent losing more hair. This is almost a guarantee that by using LLLT with Propecia and Rogaine you will halt your hair loss or slow it do a tortoise running a marathon type of slow. There’s a good chance you will see growth, but that is not absolute and you have to walk into it understanding the realities. If a 20-year-old man or woman with hair loss walks into our clinic, I tell them absolutely to start treatments right away to hold on to their hair. Often they come back 2 or 3 years later when their hair loss has become so bad that it really bothers them and I explain that LLLT would have prevented this loss and I can’t get their hair back to where it was 3 years ago with technology. IT IS SO FRUSTRATING!
2) I used it for 3 months and nothing happened
This one kills me – it takes 6 months to a year to see results! 3 months…who said anything about a few months?
3) I used it for a year and I saw no change.
I only get frustrated when people say this. You’re telling me that if you have been losing a lot of hair for several years and that in 1 year you have not noticed more hair loss you are upset? Are you kidding me? That’s pretty amazing to say you stopped your hair loss considering you were going bald faster than a cheetah in the Serengeti.
I’m also going to address the cost of treatments. Another frustration. People always come to us and say “Why are they so expensive?”
1) Do you go to a dentist and ask them why it costs 1000’s of dollars? What about an Optometrist for Laser Eye Surgery? What about Laser Hair Removal? What about any cosmetic procedure? Why are they expensive when they work? Because there is a demand and they work! Why would hair loss be any different? If you want good hair, teeth, eyes etc you must pay for these things and they are of course hefty in price but are costly due to the fact they work and there is a demand for them.
Bottom line is this. TREATMENTS WORK! GET ON THEM THE SECOND YOU NOTICE YOUR HAIR LOSS!! WHY? BECAUSE THEY HOLD ON TO HAIR…THE SOONER YOU START THE MORE HAIR YOU WILL KEEP!!
IF you have read this and wait 5 years until your hair loss really bothers you, you have only yourself to blame for not having the hair you love and wanted to keep. You know now that they work, so it’s your choice.
The article was long. I’ll be going into Treatments VS Transplants and what to consider in the following article.
