The latest treatment options may help restore thinning hair to its former glory.
A CUT ABOVE
Years ago, transplants were not an option for most women, but recent strides in micro-grafting are now making it possible for many, says Unger, who is also a hair transplant surgeon with practices in Toronto and New York. But, given the cost (from $5,000 to $12,000 per session, on average), surgery is perhaps best for those who haven’t had success with medical treatments. The procedure involves removing a narrow, hair-bearing strip of skin from a still-dense area (like the back of the head) and dissecting out single hairs as well as small groups of two and three hairs. The surgeon then meticulously inserts these hairs into small needle holes made in the thinning spots. “There’s no plugginess to it at all,” says Unger, noting that complication rates are very low. While not all women are good candidates, “the advantage of transplanting is that it always works,” he says. “It always grows a substantial amount of hair, and most of that hair is permanent.”
TECH SUPPORT
Lasers are a tried-and-true way to banish hair, but can they be used to bring it back too? The HairMax LaserComb, a handheld at-home gadget approved by Health Canada, claims to do just that. Using low-level laser therapy, the device is said to spur hair growth when used for 10 to 15 minutes three times a week. But while Kingsley recommends it, other experts are more skeptical. “I think that, so far, the studies that have been done are not scientifically convincing for most dermatologists,” says Unger. “It has obviously done something for some people, but we don’t know how much it does, and we don’t know for what proportion of people it does anything.” Still, he calls the device “harmless” and says it’s worth a try for those who want to give it a shot.
'The advantage of transplanting is that it always works,' says Dr. Walter Unger an associate professor of dermatology at the University of TorontoHuman hair cell therapy, or “cloning” — a more sci-fi scenario — is a promising work-in-progress. Researchers can grow tissue stem cells in lab cultures, but, strangely, when those cells are put back into the human they were taken from, they work “only intermittently,” says Unger. He predicts that scientists will solve this problem in the not-so-distant future. “I’d say that this is one of the reasons you should try medical treatments first — maybe slow down hair loss until we do have cloning,” he explains. “It’s going to happen; it’s just a question of when.”
