With well over 50 years of servicing hair loss patients in Australia we know the importance of getting in early when your hair loss starts to occur. If a patient waits too long to commence treatment determines if saving the hair and regrowing sufficient hair will provide adequate coverage for their hair loss condition. Hair replacement options will be required if your situation is determined to be too far progressed. For surgical hair replacement generally medical treatment will be required to save the existing hair follicles from the same fate as the ones that are getting replaced.
Most patients Ashley and Martin doctors and consultants service have a genetic hair loss condition. Male Pattern and Female Pattern hair loss is called Androgenic Alopecia. The condition is caused by your hair follicle cells becoming sensitive to Androgens (hormones) that your body produces. Why the human body has this function is an unknown. As hair follicles change to be sensitive (this is the genetic aspect) then they start to miniaturise. The process works through a cycle of 3 stages. Anagen is the growth aspect of the hair follicle. When hair follicles become sensitive to Androgens the growth phase will shorten causing hairs to lose length and thickness. As this occurs you lose coverage. Catagen is when the hair breaks away from the hair root and starts to move up the hair follicle. Telogen is where the hair follicle sits in a resting period. As your genetic condition is always causing more destruction to the hair follicle, this trauma will cause the Telogen phase to increase in length.
Treatments for genetic hair loss are about creating an environment that protects the hair follicle cells from the Androgens and to get the existing hair follicles to work harder to produce better quality hair strands. The better we do this the more coverage you obtain.
The important things to remember are as follows:
- Genetic hair loss is presently easily treatable however not curable.
- Hair follicle cells that have been destroyed are permanently gone.
- The more cells we save the better the outcome is for the patient.
- Depending on your genetic make-up and your lifestyle will determine how fast you lose your hair.
- Present treatments need to be tailored to your unique condition and they will need to be multifaceted. For more information to this please see this article on the latest hair loss treatment research.
- Self-diagnosing your condition is highly risky. In most cases you will choose only one form of treatment where it is likely that you will need a range of products to treat your condition. If you get it wrong, permanent destruction of the hair follicle will occur.
- Treatment options need time to work. Between 8 to 12 months is required to determine if a treatment option is working for you.
A full free consultation is required to determine if treatment options are suitable and then you will be informed of short term and long term costs to treat your individual hair loss condition.
If hair replacement options are required, then the consultant will go through this aspect of the industry. Do not be disappointed with Ashley and Martin consultants or doctors if they recommend that treatment is not applicable for your condition. Their role is to ensure that you have the best advice on what can be done, not what you want. You then decide if the advice is correct for you to take up.