Hairloss & Thinning Hair Treatment Options – Laser Hair Therapy

Alan J. Bauman, M.D. Chief Medical Advisor — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 21:01:35 +0000

Drugs and Hair Loss

Medications that your doctor prescribes are used to maintain your health or treat a specific medical condition, but can come with unwanted side effects. Some drugs trigger hair growth in unwanted areas, changes in color or texture, or cause hair loss.

Like any other type of hair loss, drug-induced hair loss can have a detrimental effect on your confidence and self-esteem.

Thankfully, in the vast majority of cases, the hair loss issue resolves once the medication is discontinued. For some patients who are on chronic medications for the long term or who are also experiencing hereditary hair loss (androgenetic alopecia), the battle may become slightly tougher to fight.

The type of drug, dosage and underlying conditions may influence the severity of hair loss and the prognosis. Some drugs, like chemotherapy agents, cause immediate hair loss beginning within a few days or weeks of taking the medication. However, the most common type of drug-induced hair loss starts 8-16 weeks after starting the medication.

In my clinical practice, the most common classes of medications I see that are prone to triggering hair loss are: anti-cholesterol medications (especially statins), anti-hypertensives (blood pressure lowering medications like beta-blockers), mood modulators (anti-depressants/anti-anxiety agents), and hormones (like thyroid, testosterone or birth control pills).

A large number of medications are thought to be linked with hair loss. Here are a few main categories:

Acne medications containing vitamin A (retinoids)
Antibiotics and antifungal drugs
Antidepressants
Birth control pills
Anticlotting drugs
Cholesterol-lowering drugs
Drugs that suppress the immune system
Drugs that treat breast cancer
Epilepsy drugs (anticonvulsants)
High blood pressure medications (anti-hypertensives), such as beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, and diuretics
Hormone replacement therapy
Mood stabilizers
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
Parkinson’s disease drugs
Steroids
Thyroid medications
Weight loss drugs

Good communication with the doctor who prescribed the medication is also imperative to find out if the dosage can be reduced or stopped. Sometimes alternative medications with fewer hair loss side effects can be substituted.

When hair loss is due to a medication you are taking, it is likely that hair growth will return to normal once the medication is discontinued. HairCheck™ measurements can scientifically track changes in hair growth in order to determine whether hair loss is stable, getting worse or improving.

Treatments such as Minoxidil (Rogaine™), Finasteride (Propecia™), nutritional supplements and Low Level Laser Therapy can be used to help rejuvenate hair that has thinned out due to medications.

Hair loss and Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy often causes the more immediate type of hair loss because it interrupts the growth phase of the hair follicle. It tends to start around two weeks, but gets progressively worse in 4-8 weeks causing loss of scalp hair and other locations including eyebrows and eyelashes.

Combinations of multiple chemotherapy drugs often cause more severe loss than those who are treated with only one drug. After chemotherapy, hair usually regrows although it may change in texture become more curly or straight, or it may remain thin even after chemotherapy is discontinued.

Chemotherapy drugs that are known to cause hair loss:

adriamycin
cyclophosphamide
cactinomycin
docetaxel
doxorubicin
etoposide
ifosfamide
irinotecan
paclitaxel
topotecan
vinorelbine

Treatment with minoxidil and/or low level laser therapy can help regrow hair that is slow to return to normal

Always Seek Qualified Advice of an Experienced Hair Restoration Physician

It is always recommended to seek the advice and the evaluation of a qualified and experienced Hair Restoration Physician in order to help you diagnose and track the hair loss condition.

The post Hairloss & Thinning Hair Treatment Options – Laser Hair Therapy first appeared on Nutreve Hair Loss Prevention.

Women’s Hair Loss – Hair Treatment & Restoration| Nutreve

Hair Loss Consultant — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:51:40 +0000

Women’s Hair Loss – Hair Treatment & Restoration For Women – Nutreve – Processed Video Transcription

Women’s Hair Loss – Nutreve Women Hair Loss Treatment

I’m John Vincent. For 28 years, I’ve been involved in helping women and men find a solution to their hair loss problems. As president of Nutreve International, I feel we’ve created the best treatment option for thinning hair in one comprehensive package. Female pattern baldness (Androgenetic alopecia) is an often overlooked but common condition frustrating one in four women today.

Facts About Hair Loss

We know that hair loss can be depressing for men, but for women it can be devastating to their self-esteem and sense of beauty. While men can point to celebrities with shaved heads and simply accept hair loss as inevitable, women don’t have bald role models in our society.

Hair loss is almost always an inherited trait passed down by female or male relatives. Hormonal changes such as hypothyroidism, post-partum shedding, even stress or trauma like chemotherapy can trigger hair loss. When the hair doesn’t grow back after the condition is corrected, we can normally attribute the cause to hereditary baldness.

Treatments for Hair Loss

Alternatives to thinning hair are more limited for women than for men. Hair transplant surgery is often not a good option for sparse hair and rarely achieves the thickness women are looking for. I’ve often pointed out the difference between men and women seeking more hair are that men want hair nobody notices and women want hair that everybody notices.

There is only one FDA approved drug treatment for women that’s Monoxidil and it is been found to be marginally successful for regaining thickness and growing hair. More often than not, women who use Monoxidil twice per day as recommended find it messy and unattractive when left in the hair.

Some men and women simply can’t tolerate Monoxidil on their scalp. We know that many women today spend hundreds of dollars on hair repair treatments at the salon or on off the shelf products.

Women Hair Loss Treatments

We’ve seen the infomercials about products that claim to make the hair thicker, shinier, and fuller by applying a special volumizing shampoo or conditioner to the hair shaft. When we realize that hair is dead once it leaves the scalp, we understand why such products are extremely temporary.

Simply applying product to the hair shaft does not get to the root of the problem. Hair growth needs to be encouraged from within the scalp not from without.

So what’s the answer to female pattern hair loss? Well, for thousands of women nationally who’ve used low level laser light hair therapy (LHT), the vast majority have seen their hair regain a thicker, fuller appearance as a result of a regular treatment regimen.

This laser hair therapy system program does not diminish with time and does not require repurchasing overpriced products. Your hair quality is maintained by the regular use of laser light not hair products on a consistent basis, much like brushing your teeth or exercising muscles to maintain their health and strength.

Laser Hair Therapy

The Nutreve Personal Laser Hair Therapy provides the most power of any device of its kind. Used along with a Nutreve women hair loss treatment system, women report improvement in the thickness and look of their hair in as little as 12 weeks. Low level laser therapy for hair loss delivers cool light energy to the depth of the scalp where hair grows.

Harvard Photomedicine professor Dr. Michael Hamblin explains that LHT stimulates microcirculation of blood flow to the follicles that it opens up pathways to the cells blocked by DHT and allows for ATP synthesis, the natural proliferation of new healthy cell growth. The sooner you start using the Nutreve Personal Laser Hair Therapy personal laser the sooner you’ll see your hair regain the appearance you’re looking for.

Its ergonomic shape and smooth direct to the scalp light delivery system assures you that you’re receiving the most benefit LHT can deliver. The result of using LHT is thicker, fuller, shinier looking hair and typically a halting of excessive hair loss that results in baldness. Best of all, Nutreve products carry a money back guarantee. There’s no risk, no down side. Just the satisfaction of knowing you’re encouraging the growth of healthy hair.

Pulsed Laser Wave Technology

One of the latest technologies in laser hair treatments is what we call the Pulsed Laser Wave Technology. This creates the intermittent pulsing of laser diodes at very fast intervals. The cellular response is said to be enhanced by this awesome technology.

The post Women’s Hair Loss – Hair Treatment & Restoration| Nutreve first appeared on Nutreve Hair Loss Prevention.

low level laser therapy for hair loss | Nutreve Hair Loss Prevention