New therapy could have hair-raising results

The back flaps of men's magazines have been touting miracle hair loss "cures" for decades:
"End Baldness now!"

"Grow your hair ... fast!"

"Thinning hair? Try this!"

The newest antidote in the battle against baldness uses lasers - pulses of concentrated light - to regrow and thicken lost or thinning hair. But unlike the snake oils of years gone by, this treatment may actually work.

"Feel good about your hair again!" proclaims the Web site for the HairMax LaserComb, a relatively simple at-home device purported to stimulate hair growth.

"Thicker, fuller, healthier hair is possible."

It might be. In February, the Food and Drug Administration approved the LaserComb as an effective treatment for hair loss, making it the first nondrug hair loss treatment approved by the FDA. Until now, Propecia and Rogaine had been the only approved solutions.

The news comes as no surprise to hair loss clinics across the country, many of which have been using in-office laser therapy for years.

"The fact that the theory has received FDA approval ... that is the beginning of legitimacy in this industry," said Marilyn Wayne, owner of the Hair Solutions hair-loss clinic in Torrance, who said she has seen laser therapy give full heads of hair to men and women who had been previously thinning.
"Throughout history, there have been an awful lot of people who have touted everything from cow manure on the head to God knows what."

The evidence for the LaserComb is compelling. According to clinical trials, 93 percent of participants using the comb saw an increase in the number of thick hairs, and none reported any serious adverse reactions.

Even without FDA approval, hair restoration clinics have used laser machines for more than a decade. In-office treatments use laser "hoods" or "domes," under which patients sit for

30 minutes three times a week.

The in-office treatment costs about

$3,000 per year.

And even though the LaserComb, which costs $545, is the only FDA-approved device, the hoods used in physicians' offices use the same technology.

According to Randy Veliky, chief operating officer of HairMax, laser therapy works by stimulating the scalp, thereby increasing circulation to the hair follicles. It also triggers the hair follicles to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the cells' primary source of energy.

"The laser energy is being converted into ATP just like a plant converts sunlight into energy," Veliky said.

The result, he said, is that weakened hair follicles start growing new hair, and existing hair gets thicker.

It's not exactly a miracle cure, he noted. Laser therapy won't grow a mop of hair on a completely bald head.

"If the scalp gets shiny because it's been dried up, constricted, shrunk, you've gone too far," he said. "If we can catch a hair follicle that has been dormant for a year or two, then we can save it."

But saving hair is a big commitment, and laser treatment - as is the case with Propecia and Rogaine - must be continued indefinitely.

"If you stop using it, your hair will return to the state that it was in before you started using it," Veliky said. "It's a commitment. ... like brushing your teeth."

To some people, especially women who have fewer options when it comes to hair loss therapies, keeping the hair on their head is worth the lifetime ritual of either once-a-week laser therapy (treatment is three times a week for the first year; once a week thereafter) or twice-daily Rogaine.

Propecia, generally considered the most effective treatment for men (besides transplants) is not approved for women; in addition, women aren't always good candidates for hair transplant surgery since their hair tends to thin all over the scalp, leaving no viable pieces to transplant.

"Women do not deal well with losing their hair," said Wayne, adding that about 60 percent of her clients are female. "It' a constant source of embarrassment."

According to the American Hair Loss Association, at least half of women in the United States will experience some form of hair loss by the time they are 50.

Many doctors, including Paul Straub of the Straub Medical Center Hair Restoration Clinic in Torrance, wanted FDA approval before incorporating the laser treatment into their programs.

"I've seen a vast number of lotions and potions and nonapproved things come and go," said Straub, who has been treating hair loss since 1972 using surgical procedures and drug therapies. "I personally did not trust without testing."

Straub said laser therapy isn't as effective as Propecia or hair transplant surgery - it's about as effective as Rogaine, he said, which studies show works well in about 20 percent to 40 percent of users. But now that it's approved, he plans on selling the LaserComb as a supplement to other treatments.

"We have to use every available thing we have to help grow the hair,"

Straub said. "It's not going to be one absolute magic formula."

Possible cures for hair loss

Minoxidil (Rogaine)

Availability: Nonprescription.
Application: Apply topically twice a day to area of scalp requiring treatment.
How it works: While doctors aren't exactly sure how it works, it is thought to increase circulation and thereby stimulate hair growth.
Works best on: Patients with newly thinning hair.
Results: Takes several months to stimulate hair growth, if at all.
Drawbacks: Application can be messy. Results last only as long as the product is used (hair will return to pretreatment condition if application is stopped).
Possible side-effects: Itching, redness and irritation.
Cost: About $300 a year.


Laser therapy (in-office or LaserComb)

Availability: Nonprescription.
Application: Use three times a week for first year; once a week thereafter.
(In-office "dome" treatment is 30 minutes; comb is 15-20 minutes.)
How it works: Laser stimulates scalp to promote hair growth.
Results: Takes up to six months to see results.
Drawbacks: Hair growth stops when treatment stops. Can be tedious.
Possible side-effects: No known side-effects.
Cost: LaserComb, $545; in-office treatment, about $3,000 a year.


Finasteride (Propecia)

Availability: Sold by prescription.
Application: Pill taken daily.
How it works: Blocks enzymes that inhibit the growth of hair follicles.
Results: Takes at least three months to see results.
Drawbacks: New hair will be lost within one year after medication is stopped. Not for use on women (may cause serious birth defects in male fetuses).
Possible side-effects: Decreased libido, decreased ejaculate, dizziness, diarrhea, abdominal pain and back pain.
Cost: $500-$1,000 a year.

Source: http://www.dailybulletin.com/entertainment/ci_6164302

Follica’s Hair-Raising Gamble

Startup looks to develop new products to reverse baldness.

Those ridiculous comb-overs may be a thing of the past after a Nature report revealed Thursday that scientists have discovered they could use a common protein to generate new hair follicles.

The scientists behind the study have already launched a new startup, called Follica, which aims to commercialize the discovery with a new hair growth treatment.

But bald people shouldn’t toss out their toupees just yet. The protein has only been tested in mice and it could be years before it is approved for human use. “This research has far reaching scientific and clinical applications for many skin and hair disorders,” said Wendy Roberts, a dermatologist at Desert Dermatology Medical Associates in Rancho Mirage, California. “But they must [first] be replicated in the human model."

Follica, backed by Boston, Massachusetts-based PureTech Ventures, would join an already crowded hair-renewal market that includes products from two brand-name pharmaceutical companies, as well as generic propecia, non-approved treatments, and hair transplant companies.

The market is dominated by Merck’s Propecia and Johnson & Johnson’s Rogaine, the only two hair regeneration products that have received U.S. regulatory approval. Emeryville, California-based Neosil, which has received more than $32 million from MPM Capital, Burrill & Company, and Shalon Ventures, is working on a compound that stimulates hair growth, but development is in the early stages.

“These products are better at maintaining hair than re-growing follicles on a bald scalp,” said George Cotsarelis, a University of Pennsylvania dermatologist who co-founded Follica with Harvard Medical School professor Rox Anderson in 2005.

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania-based Follica claims its products would be different because they would be based on a protein called WNT that helps form new hair follicles in wounded skin. “The previous belief is that hair follicles develop only in the womb,” said Dr. Cotsarelis.

Armed with their scientific discovery, the Follica team hope to develop a process by which they can gently wound the skin of a bald patient and apply a topical cream containing WNT in order to stimulate the growth of new hair follicles. The scientists believe they can also block hair growth by applying a separate compound to the wounded skin.

Daphne Zohar, the founding partner at PureTech ventures, said Follica’s scientific basis gives it a leg up over existing products. “People haven’t focused on translating science into the aesthetic market,” said Ms. Zohar, “so you end up with late-night-infomercial products, and most don’t work very well.”

Analysts said the aesthetic nature of the technology may open up acquisition opportunities in both the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Getting big pharma’s attention, however, won’t be easy because Follica would have to compete with cardiovascular drugs, sleep aids and anti-infection agents that generate far greater revenue than products such as Propecia and Rogaine. “Aesthetic products aren’t viewed as big business by the pharmaceutical industry,” said Joe Tooley, a pharmaceutical analyst at AG Edwards and Sons.

Source: http://www.redherring.com/

Drugs To Fix Your Balding Heads

The mirror revealed all Seth Garon needed to know about his future -- there would be no encore for the full head of hair he enjoyed as a guitarist in a rock band."In my late 20s, I started losing hair," Garon said. "I was looking in the mirror and saw my father looking back at me."

Garon is one of the estimated 35 million men in the United States affected by male pattern baldness, or androgenetic alopecia. By age 35, two-thirds of men in the United States will have some degree of appreciable hair loss, according to the American Hair Loss Association.

"It made me confront aging, and I was not happy with that prospect,” said Garon, who had quit music for a job at an advertising agency in Portland.

Garon's reaction to hair loss, which is usually caused by genetics, is common among young adults who are entering the workforce. Seventy-seven percent said they would be "somewhat concerned" if they were experiencing hair loss in their 20s and just starting their career, according to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery.

Drugs To Fix Your Head

Garon tried Rogaine, a drug applied to the thinning area to revitalize hair follicles. Rogaine and Propecia, a medication taken orally, are the only non-surgical formulas for hair loss approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Propecia is available by prescription and was originally developed to treat enlarged prostates. It can reduce an enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, a chemical involved in the loss of hair.

It is important that treatments of either drug begin in the early stages of hair loss, according to the American Hair Loss Association.

Source: http://www.wmtw.com/health/11519699/detail.html

Losing your locks? These foods can help

If you're tried every shampoo, conditioner and cream hoping for thick, shiny hair, you may be going at it all wrong. The truth is, eating the right foods will not only help you feel great but they'll give you luxurious locks as well. TODAY nutritionist Joy Bauer has some advice for getting "ahead" in the hair game.

Healthy hair depends on the body’s ability to construct a proper hair shaft, as well as the health of the skin and follicles. Therefore, good nutrition assures the best possible environment for building strong, lustrous hair.

However, changing your diet now will affect only new growth, not the part of the hair that is already visible. In fact, starting a hair-healthy diet today will mean a more gorgeous head of hair within six months to a year, depending on how fast your hair grows. Hair growth varies between ½ and 1 ½ inches per month (depending on personal differences). On average, a person can expect to have about 6 inches of new growth every year, so it will take about that long to notice the effects of your nutritional changes.

Before discussing how nutrition helps hair, it’s important to point out what nutrition cannot help:

Thinning hair due to male pattern baldness cannot be helped with nutrition. Your best bet is to catch it early and speak with you doctor about medication.
Thinning hair due to aging cannot be helped with nutrition. As we get older our hair spends more time in a resting phase -- versus a growing phase, which leads to thinner, slower growing hair.
Other conditions that negatively affect hair – but are all reversible, include:

Hormonal shifts – women tend to notice hair changes during pregnancy, postpartum, and nursing.
Stress is one of the most common causes of reversible hair loss.
Several medications can cause temporary hair loss. Thyroid conditions (hypo or hyper). Low ferritin level (low reserves of iron).
After ruling out medical and stress related conditions, here’s my recipe for a Healthy Hair Diet!

Iron-rich protein

Protein is necessary for all cell growth, including hair cells. Hair gets its structure from hardened proteins called keratin. Without enough protein for keratin, hair grows more slowly, and the individual strands that do grow will be weaker.

Furthermore, the iron found in animal protein (called “heme iron”) is most easily absorbed by the body (more so than the iron in plant foods (non-heme iron). Iron helps red blood cells carry oxygen to all cells in the body, including the hair follicles.

For most people, foods can provide all the iron necessary for good health and strong hair. However, before menopause, women may want to consider taking a standard multivitamin that contains the daily value for iron. Never take straight iron pills without a doctor’s supervision – taking excessive amounts when your body is not deficient can be detrimental to your health.

Good sources of iron-rich protein include clams, oysters, lean beef, turkey, duck, lamb, chicken, pork, shrimp, and eggs.

Good sources of vegetarian iron rich protein include tofu, soybeans, lentils, beans, and black-eyed peas

Vitamin C

Vitamin C improves the body’s ability to absorb non-heme iron (also known as vegetarian based iron), so vegetarians should eat iron-rich vegetables and foods rich in vitamin C at the same meal.

Vitamin C is also used to form collagen, a structural fiber necessary for the body to maintain integrity by holding it all together. Hair follicles, blood vessels, and skin all require collagen to stay healthy for optimal growth of beautiful hair. Good sources include guava, peppers, oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, pineapple, papayas, lemons, broccoli, kale, and Brussels sprouts.

B-vitamins—folate, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12
These vitamins are involved in the creation of red blood cells, which carry oxygen and nutrients to all body cells, including those of the scalp, follicles, and growing hair. Without enough B vitamins, the cells will not thrive, causing shedding, slow growth, or weak hair that is prone to breaking.

Good sources of vitamin B6 include fortified whole-grain breakfast cereals, garbanzo beans, wild salmon, lean beef, pork tenderloin, chicken breast, white potatoes (w/skin), bananas, and lentils.

Good sources of Vitamin B12 include shellfish (clams, oysters, crab), wild salmon, fortified whole-grain breakfast cereal, soy milk, trout, lean beef, and low-fat cottage cheese.

Good sources of folate include fortified whole-grain breakfast cereals, lentils, black-eyed peas, soybeans, oatmeal, turnip greens, spinach, green peas, artichokes, okra, beets, parsnips, and broccoli.

Zinc

The mineral zinc is involved in tissue growth and repair, including hair growth. It also helps keep the oil glands around the hair follicles working properly. Low levels of zinc can cause hair loss, slow growth, and dandruff. Good sources of zinc include oysters, lean beef, crab, ostrich, pork tenderloin, peanut butter, wheat germ, turkey, veal, pumpkin seeds, chicken, and chickpeas.

For more info on male pattern baldness and women pattern baldness visit: http://patternbaldness.blog.co.uk/

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Look Good, Feel Good: Hair Loss and Treatments

You’ve probably seen them: television spots that promise a thick head of hair to the follicle-challenged. But offers that seem too good to be true usually are.

Among men losing their hair, the most common affliction is a progressive thinning known as male pattern baldness. The more hair lost, the less successful treatment will be, so specialists recommend action at the first sign of trouble.

Losing as many as 100 hairs a day is normal, but more substantial shedding is a red flag, says Pirooz Sarshar, cofounder of the Grooming Lounge, a men’s style sanctuary in downtown DC and Tysons Corner. Hair follicles are “like a mattress,” he says. “Fresh, firm springs loosen up with age.”

We’ve combed area experts for their advice on keeping what you’ve got.

Medical Marvels?

Hormones are to blame for most age-related baldness so the best solutions try to counteract chemical changes, says Dr. Thomas Nigra, chairman of Washington Hospital Center’s dermatology department.

Minoxidil, an over-the-counter medication sold in the United States as Rogaine, has shown promise in stopping hair loss. Rogaine, a topical treatment, stimulates follicles, says Nigra, who helped develop the drug more than two decades ago.

A prescription pill called Propecia also works; it blocks DHT, a sex hormone that causes follicle shrinkage. It’s faster and easier to use than minoxidil, which takes several minutes a day to apply. But Propecia is ineffective for all women and for men over 60, he says.

Many so-called “miracle” products marketed on TV are doctored-up trisaccharides, or sugars, that coat hair and give the illusion of thickness, Nigra says.

Transplant Trend

Interest in hair-replacement surgery has increased in recent years, as procedures now offer more natural results than the “hair-plug era,” says Dr. Richard Giannotto, with the Hair Restoration Group of Northern Virginia.

Depending on the procedure, a client can spend as little as $2,500 or as much as $20,000. Giannotto also offers laser-light therapy, a lesser-known treatment in the United States that has been “a mainstay in Europe for years,” he says. Scientists have found that low-level light exposure can slow hair loss, he says. Other physicians say there’s no evidence it works.

Researchers in Great Britain plan to conduct the first clinical trials with hair cloning, Giannotto says, adding that the procedure could reach this country by 2010.

But even a top-notch transplant is “still only a disguise,” says Nigra, who contends “there’s no substitute for a healthy head of hair.” Rogaine, which runs about $60 for a several-month supply, and $1-a-day Propecia stimulate hair growth and prevent the progression of baldness, he says.

Hair Myths

Here are a few falsehoods and half-truths about hair loss:

• Baldness is predetermined by your mother’s genes. “I think it’s time to stop blaming your relatives,” Sarshar says. “Hair loss does have a genetic component, but no one is sure what it is.”

• Vitamin deficiency causes hair loss. This is partly true—vitamins B and E as well as magnesium, copper, and zinc nurture the scalp. But, says Giannotto, there’s no supplement that can regrow hair.

• Regularly wearing a hat leads to hair loss. “Only if you’re destined to lose that hair in first place,” Giannotto says. Stress can also lead to thinning, but the loss is reversible, he says, merely through a decrease in stress.

• Baldness is caused by hair mites. Hucksters use this tactic to “scare people and sell special shampoo,” Sarshar says.

Source: http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/health/

Nasty little mirror reveals dirty secret

At my father's house in Collingwood, there is this nasty mirror on the wall. And while a mirror may have worked wonders for the Queen in the classic Snow White fairy tale, as she deceived herself daily about her beauty, it provides a different perspective on my fading youth.

This malicious mirror is placed in a strategic location, perched on an angle on the wall behind the toilet. What it reveals, as I stand to relieve myself, is an expanding bare patch on the top of my head.

As we all know, it's hard to see, without some great effort and ingenuity, what's going on up there.

As I prepare myself for each working day, carefully combing my hair in an effort to combat the receding front on my forehead, I am oblivious to what's going on up there on the crown. It's an area of the head that only a carefully place mirror can reveal.

While spending time at dad's over the holidays, I had the opportunity to be reminded once again that the flowing curly locks of my youth have left for greener pastures.

I guess I should feel fortunate my hair stuck around as long as it did.

As a teenager, I did some pretty strange things to my mane in an effort to look different from my peers.

For highlighting, I was known to use food colouring. To keep everything locked into place, I would use a concoction of sugar and water, and later, even shoe polish.

In university, I would straighten my curly hair with a flat iron, and then add gobs of gel and hair spray. What was amazing about the amount of product in my hair was that even after wearing a motorcycle helmet, it would pop back into position after I took it off.

The sugar and water was a reliable staple for styling as a teenager. The only problem was mowing the lawn on a hot summer day.

For months I couldn't figure out why flies and bees would swarm my head as I pushed the lawnmower around the yard at our family homestead. Finally I figured out why they were so attracted me.

I guess I should feel fortunate to have retained a solid mane to this point, considering the crap I put into my hair and the fact many men went bald in their 30s.

I've never been one to shave my head, as seems to be the popular style for so many men these days. My philosophy has always been that I'm keeping my locks attached to my head as long as I have them. There'll be lots of life to live when being bald is no longer a choice, but a reality.

Now that that little mirror in dad's washroom has revealed the tragic loss so nastily, I wanted to find out a little bit more about what I have to look forward to.

While some men never go bald, everyone's hair thins out over the years. Despite much research, there's little men can do to slow down or reverse hair loss or androgenetic alopecia.

I've always been told that you inherit the hair genes from your mother's relatives.

But apparently, that's a bit of a myth, as baldness can come from either side of the family, or both. Looking at your family can give you at best, an educated guess about how you'll turn out.

When I look at my father, he's already missing most of the hair on top of his head. Maybe he put that mirror there to see if anything grows back?

"I had nothing to do with it," he said when I asked him to explain. "There was nothing sinister about putting it there, but I'm not really sure why we did."

Sure dad.

Another myth of hair loss is that wearing a hat to often can cause it. This is completely false, thankfully, as I may have to resort to wearing a ball cap for the rest of my life.

Did you know you lose up to 100 hairs per day normally? These hairs have finished their three-year life span and are ready to be shed, then replaced, or... not.

Many conditioners, shampoos, vitamins, and other products claim to help hair grow in some unspecified way. These are harmless but useless. To slow down hair loss, there are two options:

Minoxidil (brand name: Rogaine): This topical application is over-the-counter, no prescription is required. It works best on the crown, less on the frontal region. Available as a 2% solution, Rogaine may grow a little hair, but is better at holding onto what's still there.

Finasteride (brand name: Propecia): This is a lower-dose version of a drug that shrinks prostates in middle-aged men. Propecia is by prescription and is taken once a day. Propecia seems to do a nice job of retaining hair, however, it may also grow or thicken hair a little.

Other options include hairpieces and weaving (never) or surgery.

For me, I'm prepared to live with what I've still got up there, and pray that it hangs on as long as possible. This loss is an inexorable fact of life, and I am prepared to deal with it mentally.

But I don't need a stupid mirror, mirror on the wall to throw reality in my face.

For herbal medication on hair loss visit: http://www.herbalmedicationsonline.com/provillus/

News Source: http://www.ancasternews.com/an/viewpoint/viewpoint_697977.html

Propecia and Prostate Cancer: Balancing Vanity With Health

As you can see from the headshot of me that runs with my articles, I am one of the many men in America who wakes up every morning, looks in the mirror, and wonders what I could do to grow more hair.

So far, I have decided to embrace the changes that come with middle age, but many men who are experiencing hair loss do decide to try and "grow more hair." Treating male-pattern baldness, however, is not a risk-free endeavor. There is a range of anti-balding products on the market today. Treatments and strategies vary, and so do the all-important side-effects of these remedies.

I may one day choose to entertain my vanity myself. Should I do so, the first thing I need to be aware of are the potential health risks of the different baldness treatments available.

One of the more common approaches to reversing baldness on the market today is the popular and successful drug Propecia. All drugs and medications come with the risk of side effects, and in some cases, taking a medication for one thing can mask or hide other developing health problems. In the case of Propecia, recent research indicates that using the drug can alter the results of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test used to screen for prostate cancer in men.

A study from Anthony V. D'Amico, MD, PhD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Claus G. Roehrborn, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, found that men on Propecia may have dangerously high PSA levels even if their test indicates levels are in the normal range.

"The men who use Propecia are young men, in their 30s, 40s, and 50s," D'Amico said in an interview with the medical website Web MD. "This is important because these are the guys who, if they have prostate cancer, need to be diagnosed."

Merck, which makes Propecia and funded the research, said that information advising patients to inform their doctor if they are taking Propecia has been included in the drug packaging since the product was initially approved in 1997.

The study found that Propecia cuts PSA levels in half after one year of use. While there is no PSA threshold below which cancer risk is completely eliminated, or above which cancer is a certainty, the conventional normal range is between 0 and 4.0.

However, for men on Propecia, a PSA level of 2.0 could indicate prostate cancer risk.

"If you've been on Propecia for a year, you should double the PSA score," D'Amico said.

"If you are on Propecia for more than a year, don't multiply the score; look at the change in PSA over time. If it goes up by more than three-tenths of a point, consider a biopsy," he said.

The danger is that men may get Propecia from one doctor and PSA tests from another, says urologist Yair Lotan, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

"So if your internist doesn't know you're being treated for male pattern baldness, and your PSA is 2.5, they may assume you are normal -- but you really need to double that [score] and see a urologist," Lotan told WebMD.

It's a difficult problem, said Wayne B. Harris, MD, assistant professor of hematology and oncology at Emory University and the Atlanta VA Medical Center.

A doctor may see a PSA result of three, and not be aware the patient is taking Propecia, and therefore actually has a PSA level equivalent to a six, Dr. Harris explained.

If you are using propecia, you must inform your doctor. Being thorough, and being aware that Propecia can mask PSA test results, will help you and your doctor determine your actual cancer risk. Legitimate, safe and test-proven drugs like Propecia don’t need to compromise your health.

Men and women today have many options for delaying and offsetting the affects of aging. The information to do so safely is out there for the taking-- and so are the marvels of medicine. If looking better means feeling better, then perhaps appealing to your vanity will not only eliminate your bald spot but may enhance your overall middle-age experience.

Get rid of hair loss with herbal medication for hair loss Provillus

News Source: http://www.foxnews.com/