Hair loss is not an uncommon issue. Men & women have always been a victim of this condition and might even end up being bald which is still less socially acceptable. This, as a result, not only affects their emotional well-being but also impacts their quality of life. They end up trying out anything and everything, right from medications to treatments to get back their hair. But the question is which one is a more effective way out of hair loss- medication or therapy?
In this article, we will be discussing whether medication or hair loss treatment is more helpful in treating hair loss issues. But before moving into that, first, we need to know the exact causes that trigger excessive hair loss.
Causes of Hair loss
Hair loss can occur for several reasons like mentioned below-
- Genetics– One of the most common causes of hair loss is heredity. Some people might have a condition like Androgenic Alopecia in their family, so there are chances that their offspring may also suffer from the same condition over time.
- Hormonal Imbalance– The second most common cause of hair loss is hormonal imbalance, and this mostly occurs to females. During pregnancy and childbirth, women endure a rollercoaster ride regarding hormones, and this ultimately leads to extreme hair fall.
- Side effects of medications- Some medications like the ones used for cancer, arthritis, heart diseases, gout, blood pressure and even depression may also lead to excessive hair loss.
- Stress and Depression- Stress and depression can create a significant impact on hair growth, and they may finally end up losing a massive chunk of hair.
- Hairstyle– This mostly occurs for women who often change their hairstyles into something very tight like a ponytail or cornrows. Such hairstyles mainly trigger traction alopecia which can be easily avoided.
Medication or hair loss treatment: which one?
Following are some of the most effective and commonly used hair loss medication and treatment-
- Minoxidil (Rogaine)– Minoxidil or Rogaine is considered as one of the most successful drugs, used to treat hair loss and hair thinning conditions. Minoxidil initially originated as a drug to treat high blood pressure, but it ended up showing excellent results for hair growth. So the researchers confirmed that this particular medicine could be applied on the scalp to stimulate hair growth. The only downside of using this medication is this medicine works as long as it is used. So anyone who wants a sustained result will have to use it daily.
- Iron Supplements– Sometimes, hair loss occurs as a result of iron deficiency in women and under such circumstances, the best treatment is to take iron supplements as prescribed by the doctor. Iron deficiency is quite a natural thing for most of the women mainly because they experience heavy bleeding during menstruation. However, iron supplements may not turn out to be super useful always, and it will only work when hair fall is due to iron deficiency.
- PRP Treatment– PRP or Platelet Rich Plasma has turned out to be a robust hair loss treatment procedure. In this method, the patient’s blood is used to prepare the plasma content from it, and then this is injected to the balding areas. This treatment has a high success rate as it stimulates hair re-growth in women, especially after pregnancy and stress. But people generally need to undergo more than one session to obtain the desired result.
- Hair Transplant– Well, last, but the crucial hair treatment that can help to restore hair naturally is Hair Transplant. However, the success rate of this procedure may highly vary from person to person. But in general, it provides the most desired natural result. Two most common hair transplant techniques that are mostly performed are Follicular Unit Transplant and Follicular Unit Extraction. In these procedures, either individual hair follicles or a skin strip containing numerous hair follicles are extracted from the side or back of the scalp. Then these extracted hair follicles are very carefully implanted on the recipient or the balding areas.
Since this is a surgical procedure, there are chances that it might include some significant side effects. Hence, it is incredibly essential to consult with an expert hair surgeon before undergoing any of the above-mentioned hair loss treatment procedures. Only an experienced surgeon like Dr Sunil Arora from ALCS Jaipur will be able to provide their patients with the best information related to these treatments.
