Hair Loss

The bald fact of the matter is that hair loss is no joke. Whether you're a man or a woman, thinning hair and bald patches can make you feel incredibly self conscious, can cause your self confidence to plummet, and impact your enjoyment of life.

A thick head of hair and a 'normal' hairline are considered to be signs of health, youth and vitality, but as soon as your hair starts to thin, recede or bald, the years seem to pile on.

If you have a number of friends all around the same age you'll almost certainly have noticed just how much younger and more confident those with full heads of hair appear compared to those whose hairlines seem to be stuck in reverse gear.

For many people the loss of hair or the thinning of hair is gradual, and it may well be some considerable time before you even notice. Often it's when you glance back at pictures of how you looked a few years earlier that realisation dawns, and you start comparing your hairline to its former glory.

For some people it's suddenly seeing an unusual angle of your head, either in a photograph or mirror, and realising that the lush head of hair seen each morning is merely the ring around an increasingly thinning crown.

Whether you've just noticed your hair starting to thin or recede, or whether you have been watching with mounting despondency the gradual decline of your thatch, the good news is that hair loss doesn't have to be the end of the story.

As with many aspects of our bodies and physical appearance, help is at hand. After all, if you lose a tooth, you don't expect to have to go through life with a large gap forever more, sucking on apples and whistling unexpectedly. Cosmetic treatment for teeth is now commonplace and very affordable, and with many other treatments available, it can often seem that the one thing left is the hair.

Previously the solution was either to buy a wig or a toupee, wear a hat, or accept the look. But today we are able to benefit from advanced technologies and more detailed understandings of how hair loss can be treated effectively - and not just in the short term.

There's no point working on a treatment if it's either going to be only a short term solution, or if the results are patchy. Any hair loss treatment has to be effective, tidy and with predictable results. Older treatments were often able to only offer patchy results at best, and were rarely guaranteed or long lasting.

It can seem a great shame to those who invest so much time and effort trying to look good, eating well, going to the gym, looking after their bodies and taking care with their appearance, only for it to be let down by a head of hair which, by its very absence, can add a decade or more to your age.

Modern hair loss treatments are varied, and include such options as Follicular Transfer, in which individual hairs are extracted with the follicles intact, and transplanted into the scalp area in groups of four, and in patterns which mimic the way in which hair grows naturally. This is a tried and tested method and does not result in damage to the scalp.

Alternatively some people may benefit from medications which can be used to treat balding or thinning of the hair where this is as a result of hereditary balding or male pattern balding. Hair loss can often be caused due to testosterone being converted into dihydrotestosterone (DHT), but by using medications such as Finasteride or dutasteride this conversion can be inhibited, preventing further hair loss, and in many cases encouraging hair re-growth.

Hair loss is a devastating experience, and can have a real impact on the quality of life. Many jokes abound relating to hair loss, but the reality is that for those suffering from either a gradual thinning or receding hairline or more severe balding, it is no joke at all.

For such people it is good news that modern hair loss treatments offer real solutions, real results and a real opportunity to regain self confidence and an image of vitality.