Pharmacological treatment – the first step to hair recovery

Pharmacological treatment – the first step to hair recovery

In my surgery office I often meet patients who, even before consulting a doctor, have already made diagnosis – ‘my hair doesn’t qualify for hair transplant’. Balding itself is not always an indication for the procedure, at least not at the very beginning. If the patient doesn’t keep postponing the doctor’s appointment and appears at the surgery office early enough, there is a high probability that pharmacological treatment will be very effective when fighting the hair loss.

When can you avoid hair transplant? How can you recognize that you qualify for pharmacological treatment? What does such treatment look like? If you are interested, feel welcomed to read on.

Online diagnosis

Six months ago a man appeared in my surgery office, who had noticed growing bends on his head. The patient began to fight with the problem by sending a query to the internet search engine. He received a diagnosis just after a few seconds – male alopecia with an indication for hair transplantation. Fortunately, he didn’t postpone his appointment at the doctor’s office, which came  as a great surprise to him. A quick and outright reaction prevented the implementation of pharmacological treatment and enabled the patient to avoid – and certainly to postpone – hair transplantation, which was far too early for the patient then. Photo no. 1 shows the patient’s head before the treatment. We should never trust blindly all the information we can find in the Internet, all the more in unproven or unreliable sources. What’s more, every case is different from the medical point of view; that’s why, without consulting a specialist, we are never able to make a diagnosis, not to mention start an effective treatment.

When it is too early for a hair transplant

A doctor is able to make a preliminary qualification for the procedure only based on the photos. However, the diagnosis is confirmed only during the consultation at the doctor’s office, often accompanied by detailed examinations. Hair follicles were shown on the patient’s head, who I wrote about in the previous paragraph; it enabled me to make a decision to begin the treatment – initially for three months to test the response of the hair follicles to the selected drugs. Pharmacological treatment together with the needle mesotherapy didn’t restore full hair density; however, it’s vital to remember that no drugs will help restore lost hair follicles. Pharmaceuticals have an influence on hair that we still have, improve their quality, stop the process of falling out, which can considerably lower the cost of a possible hair transplant in the future. Photo no. 2 shows the head of the same patient after 4 months of the treatment. Hair has improved significantly, increased density and greater skin coverage are noticed with the naked eye.

Lower cost of hair transplant

Many patients seem to believe that they are in a hopeless situation with no prospect of a nonsurgical treatment. In some cases, even when hair loss has covered a significant area of the head and still continues to progress, it is recommended to implement the pharmacological treatment. Properly selected drugs can improve the visual effect significantly. Full hair density is not always possible to be restored, but any improvement in the density, even by 30-50%, gives a possibility to reduce the scope of hair transplantation in the future. Undoubtedly, this will lower the cost of the procedure. It is the doctor who always opts for the treatment method; the sooner we decide to consult a specialist, the greater the chance to implement the pharmacological treatment.