All about hair loss (alopecia) - Deutsche Welle expert interview

Dr. Andreas Finner (Trichomed Praxis Berlin) talks about what everyone can do to keep a full head of hair and about the best methods for treating hair loss:



Today's Hair-Loss Treatments: Drugs

Minoxidil shampoo

Patients can buy an OTC shampoo with an ingredient called minoxidil. Minoxidil (Rogaine) fights androgenic alopecia in both men and women. It's still not entirely clear how minoxidil works. Used properly -- twice a day, massaged deep into the scalp -- it slows new hair loss. Two-thirds of men do get acceptable hair growth. "It is not something a bald person would use, but someone starting to go bald would use it. The goal is to maintain the hair you have."

An example from Amazon:



Propecia pill

Propecia (finasteride) works only for men. It keeps the male sex hormone testosterone from forming its DHT by-product. Many men use both minoxidil shampoo and Propecia pill for maximum effect.

Today's Hair-Loss Treatments: Surgery

Surgeons can transplant hair follicles from the sides and back of the head to the top of the head.

Future Hair-Loss Treatments

- "Hair cloning" although a more accurate name is hair duplication. Follicular stem cells are packaged into follicle-inducing implants.

- Gene therapy. A gene called sonic hedgehog can convert resting hair into growing hair.

Sonic the Hedgehog animation character from Amazon:



References:

Future Hair-Loss Treatments Promise What's not Hair Today will Be Hair Tomorrow. WebMD.

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