Thank you for your question.
You state in your question that you have been dealing with male pattern hair loss for the
past 10 years. And you’re asking is it possible for minoxidil or PRP to bring dead follicles
back to life.
Well, I can certainly help you understand what the challenges are with your situation
like yours. And it’s a question that gets asked every day in my practice. A little bit
of background, I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial
plastic and reconstructive surgeon. I have been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island
for over 20 years. I am also the founder of TrichoStem™ Hair Regeneration Centers, a
system that we developed using PRP and Acellular matrix and Vitamin D and other elements to
help patients from around the world for the past 7 years using a system that we developed,
as I said earlier, that came from working on hair transplants as a non-surgical approach
to male and female pattern hair loss. So the question about dead follicles comes up all
day long.
So it is essentially a challenge that we are dealing with ultimately due to the genetics
of hair loss. And the genetics of hair loss basically is what accounts for 95% of hair
loss in men and women. And it’s a term referred to as androgenetic alopecia. It’s marked
by the progression of hair thinning as well as the eventual cessation or stopping of hair
growth. What that means also is that the hair follicle is no longer present.
And therefore, as I explained to our patients, just being focused on what we do with Hair
Regeneration treatment, what we are doing is essentially stimulating hair growth for
hair follicles that are present. That means that we can’t create hair follicles. We
can’t bring back the dead hair follicles but we can help manage hair loss. When we
say managing hair loss, we’re dealing with a situation which by definition involves the
shortening of the hair growth cycle during the active growing phase referred to as the
anagen phase as well as the prolongation of the growth cycle element referred to as telogen
which is the resting phase. So if hair is growing for less time and is resting for longer
periods of time, well we’re able to accomplish depending on the patient’s clinical profile
is a stimulation of growth. We can stimulate hair that’s not growing, we can improve
the quality and thickness of hair that is thinning but the limitation is the inventory.
We can't bring back the dead but we can try to maximize the health and wellness of living
hairs that are present.
Essentially, managing hair loss is a strategy that can involve pharmaceuticals. It can involve
non-surgical approaches such as Hair Regeneration treatment as well as surgical approaches to
try to cover areas that have lost hair permanently. But the ultimate strategy is about hair loss
management.
So, I think that in terms of your question, again without the benefit of a photo or a
physical examination, my advice to my male pattern hair loss patients, we need to do
everything to maximize the lifespan of the hair to maximize coverage for as long as possible.
If there are areas that you want to have hair and generally speaking, if we’re talking
about the best strategy when it comes to surgical solutions then you have to lean towards covering
the front part of the scalp. Hair transplant in my experience, I’ve been doing it for
20 years, has always been a better procedure for areas where there is no hair that’s
in the front. And so, the unfortunate reality of transplant is of course is that you are
not doing anything to stabilize or slow down the progression of hair loss. So you need
a dual strategy to be able to maximize coverage and deal with the hardwiring of the DNA.
So I think it’s important that if you are interested, if you are not too far gone in
prolonging the lifespan of the hair in your scalp, then meet with a qualified physician
to give you some guidance on pharmaceutical management as well as the use of this regenerative
technology of Hair Regeneration. And it always works in synergy with surgical transplantation.
Every hair transplant surgeon, myself included, wants to have the hair transplant look as
good as possible for as long as possible. And as long as someone has existing hair,
the blending of transplant with existing hair is optimal for the most natural result and
appearance.
So I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question.