To slow hair loss
To brake hair loss A balanced diet, exercise and stress reduction can strengthen hair. Laser therapy and PRP treatment can also improve the health of hair follicles and stimulate growth.Many people believe that a hair transplant is a method to slow down people's hair loss, but this is not the case. A hair transplant is just a cosmetic correction to look better. A number of hair follicles with roots and stem cells are moved to an area where few hair follicles are missing or growing. There, the new hair follicles are inserted into the skin and will then grow. These planted hair follicles the person will not lose during his lifetime. Therefore, it is a permanent solution against thin hair, but as I said: it does not stop the hair loss of surrounding growing hair follicles.
There are various injection treatments that positively affect the hair follicles. The problem with hair follicles when they grow poorly is that they are reduced in size, making it harder and harder to cope with the growth. Eventually, the hair follicles become so small that they are unable to produce real hairs and this leads to the skin appearing bald. 50 percent of all men over the age of 45 suffer from various degrees of reduced hair growth — so-called hair loss.
Medication and its side effects
Dutasteride is a new drug that in the US market has shown great success in the treatment of hair loss in men. It is a preparation that, like its twin Finasteride, is only available for men. Finasteride works by blocking the formation of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which is the culprit of the male hair loss.The reason why the preparation is only available to men is its grave risk of harming women pregnant with male fetuses. This has led to the preparation being completely blocked for female users.Dutasteride has the same mechanism of action as Finasteride, but is significantly more potent. If Finasteride blocks 70 percent of all conversion to DHT, so Dutasteride will block up to 90 percent, leading to significantly reduced amounts of DHT and significantly healthier hair follicles.
The problem with Dutasteride is its powerful side effects. Impotence and depression are among the more common and these can persist for up to six months. The difference with Finasteride is that any side effects only persist for up to 14 days.
Injection treatments
Additional things that men can do to slow hair loss is to undergo PRP treatments. PRP (platelet rich plasma) is a form of injection therapy that stimulates the stem cells around the hair follicles to increase the amount of hair cells produced. If the number of hair cells increases, the hair shaft will increase in volume resulting in a stronger hair follicle with better resistance to DHT.
In the blood there are “toolboxes” in the form of platelets floating around to intervene in case of possible damage. In these toolboxes there are over 300 proteins and growth factors that have their specific function depending on the damage that occurs.
There are several growth factors that help the hair follicles to be in the anagen growth phase and to manage the blood supply within the hair follicle. With good blood supply and oxygenation, the mitochondria of the cells will produce enough cellular energy to maintain the growth power of the hair follicle. Much research exists and even more is needed to create good treatment protocols for optimized efficacy.
