There has been a lot of talk about laser therapy and how it is being utilised for a range of purposes. While there are some uses that are cosmetic, there are numerous that are medical. Since the past few years, laser therapy has been used extensively and effectively in treating hair loss. However, before we move onto how laser therapy is being used to treat hair loss, there are certain other facts that need to be understood.
For starters, low level laser therapy is used as a form of treatment for hair loss that is safe for almost everyone (except for people suffering from any form of photosensitivity). The therapy can be used to treat hair related conditions such as androgenetic alopecia and pattern balding.
If the therapy is being used for pattern baldness, then there are a range of lasers that can be used, including
- Helium-neon (632.8 nm)
- Excimer (308 nm)
- Fractional erbium-glass (1550 nm)
The light on these devices has to be strong enough to penetrate the scalp, but gentle enough not to cause any burns. These days, there are laser therapy devices in the form of panels that fit over the head, can
be worn in the form of caps and even be held in the hand.
Ideally, low level laser therapy can be used for both men and women suffering from thinning hair or even pattern baldness that has been caused due to heredity. Most people would not be aware of this, but there are methods by which the intensity of the baldness is measured – while for men, it is known as the Norwood-Hamilton Classification, for women it is known as the Ludwig-Savin Scale. So, for men who rank IIa to V and for women who rank at I-4, II-1 or II-2 would be considered ideal candidates for low level laser therapy. In addition, women with frontal hair loss and those who have been diagnosed with Fitzpatrick skin photo-types I to IV are also eligible for this therapy.
How laser therapy works:
The photons emitted by the laser device target the cytochrome C oxidase, which leads to the creation of adenosine triphosphate. This ATP is then converted into cyclic AMP, eventually releasing energy. The process also helps in stimulating the metabolic process of the body, which assists hair growth. If there is any excess build up of DHT, the laser therapy can help prevent the same. Finally, the nitric acid which is released from the cells leads to an increase in vascularisation to the scalp. This in turn, allows the scalp to better distribute not only nutrients, but also oxygen to the roots of the hair.
You could head to a doctor specialising in hair because laser therapy is easy enough to administer. As a matter of fact, with modern day handheld devices, people can actually treat themselves. Ten to fifteen minutes sessions, two to three times a week is often more than enough and has been known to show drastic changes and positive results.
A generation of men have grown up on ordinary and the not-so-ordinary , occasional mousse, gel and wax and have taken their thinning hair in their stride. While Britain’s 7.4 million bald and balding men grapple with a loss in their crowning glory and subsequently in their self-esteem, quite a few
among them are bold enough to be comfortable in their skin without their hair bearing testimony to their handsomeness! In fact, what was just a decade ago scorned at, the bald and completely shaven look is now hailed as a turn or and extremely attractive to women who feel that loss of locks does not necessarily translate into a downslide in virility. On the contrary, it’s the new symbol of the New Age macho man who realizes that it surely adds to their cool quotient; doesn’t take away from it. In fact, there’s more good news for those who do not have much of a mane – 30 year olds are more likely to attract women than those blessed with an abundant crop; as older women find it sexually attractive!
However, despite this rosy picture many men especially the younger ones cannot come to terms with hairfall or baldness and continue like in the past to battle it out with caps, brushing their fringe slightly more to the front, growing sidelocks or beard to distract, donning a wig, or having a crew cut. This could be because over the years cultures have favoured hair growth as a sign of vitality and good health; while shunning those who cower in the shadows due to alopecia. AS hair loss tends to make the person look older, men attribute their waning or receding hairline as a sign of reduced desirability. Tell us, do you believe in this equation:
Hair loss or baldness = looking old = being a social outcast
If yes, how will you take action to rectify your situation and better it? Will you recommend a close friend to take medical help from established and well-known surgeons, like the ones who head A K Clinics?
So you can start wearing those fancy scarves again. Or wear that baseball cap to the cricket match or for a sports meet. But did you believe that just running your fingers through your hair could cause hair loss? We’ve been conditioned to think that the more we mess with our hair, more the cause for a problem to develop. But gentle brushing or twisting your hair does not cause severe or permanent hair fall or hair loss.
Nor does styling or eating certain foodstuff.
But several studies have shown a definite relationship between smoking and baldness. Quit smoking and you will do your skin, your hair, your entire body a world of good. Instead nourish your hair with healthy food, a balanced diet with right amounts of sleep and exercise that help you to easily bounce back from a sickness and boost your immunity to combat stress.
Stress is also a major cause in hair fall and developing a hobby and meditation can be good ways to cope with it. These are the facts that you should stick to just like a healthy lifestyle. Not myths like standing on one’s head will stimulate circulation and therefore better hair growth! In that case, all of us would have regular sessions of standing upside-down just like going to the gym is the norm for staying fit. It is easy to sift such yarn from what actually makes sense. Consult well-known doctors who provide you with advice after thoroughly investigating your medical history. At A K Clinics, we have extensive research to back our claims just as we can proudly declare 100% transparency. In fact our surgeons, Dr Aman and Dr Kapil Dua are known for their global expertise and how they have brought it to India – changing the lives of thousands through their emphasis on sterling quality. Visit akclinics.com and see the difference for yourself.
Is FUE as good as surgeons make it out to be? Or is it a marketing gimmick at the end of the day? We continue from our previous blogpost..
A very serious drawback of the STRIP procedure is that if it goes wrong, the patient may also suffer from loo of scalp.
For most people suffering from baldness, FUE is the technique that transforms their bleak, incomplete life into a more meaningful one where rejection does not play a significant role or a stumbling block; whether it is career opportunities or relationships. A single strip of hair can provide 1800 to 4000 hair follicles without any damage to the roots, if done under expert medical supervision. All these forms of modern hair transplants provide natural results in a short time frame. Chemical hair loss treatments, on the other hand, takes months or years to show results. Also, being a versatile procedure, FUE can also be used for facial reconstruction.
However, people suffer from this misnotion that hair transplants provide a permanent solution, not realizing that it is more resistant to falling and retains its thickness over natural hair. This is infinitely better than suffering baldness silently for years, because of unavailability of treatment; like it was way back fifty years ago. Times have changed. Earlier, men dreaded losing hair and a thinning at the crown heralded the onset of baldness. Now, it does not ring alarm bells, as people realize that help is at hand. Also, people have some sort of sentimental bonding with their hair, an emotional attachment. It is precisely why we value hair regrowth and would like to provide our customers with the alternative that suits them best. For some patients FUE may be the best procedure, but for others it may be a combination of mesotherapy and DHT.
Experts in the field can ascertain which treatment will work best. For individualized consultations, visit akclinics.org or head to our centres at Mumbai, Ludhiana or Delhi and avail of the best medical advice for yourself.
A three year old in a simple cotton dress was making her way to the local grocery store, when a lady standing nearby noticed her beautiful shoulder-length hair, pinned on one side with a flower clip. A 30 year old IT professional despite a stressful routine sports a crop of healthy hair, while his not-so-young mother has given up on thinning her thinning hair. Is it genes that make some people lucky to have silky, shiny tresses without even bothering to read whether their shampoo has shikakai or not? Or is it something else, a secret that doesn’t lie within but outside the individual like a protein-rich diet that promotes hair regrowth naturally? Well, to let you in on a not-so-secret secret: healthy hair stems from healthy hormones. Which is why you should go for iron, vitamins and even gelatin, with a vengeance. The glycin found in gelatin particularly helps you sleep well while the amino acids function in another super way – weight regulation.
However, a contrasting theory prescribes going lean on the meat! The safe alternative is to avoid hormonal imbalance by cutting down on your caffeine intake. Try substituting coffee with herbal tea when the craving hits and choose coconut oil over peanut, vegetable, soybean oil and ditch the margarine for olive oil. There’s also a healthier way to cook, like not reheating oil and using glassware or non-coated pots and pans. Exercise lightly and give your body, which of course includes the hair too, the building blocks it needs. For instance, incorporating cod liver oil, omega-3 fats and magnesium to smoothen out the googlies that can ruin your beauty sleep and give you worry wrinkles. Flax seeds, walnuts, avocados are what you should be munching along with a lavish dose of oats and sea vegetables. Another easy thing to do is to weed out tap water as the chlorine and fluorine in it prevent iodine absorption in our body.
So take the fun way out: eat healthy and optimize your sleep all in an effort to fix your master hormone – leptin. As for additional help, the experts await you at A K Clinics. Try contacting us at our Delhi, Mumbai and Ludhiana centres for consultation or advice, our veteran surgeons and team of skilled medical professionals will be happy to lend their expertise.
What is it about hair transplants that make people feel they should go for it, as though the ads that promote ‘cures to baldness’ weave a mesmeric spell? Many surgeons state there is a certain risk. It gives the entire medical fraternity a bad name when fly-by-night operators make tall claims and then fail to deliver. A patient who had undergone 2000 hair grafts was depressed because of his surgeon’s attitude post-surgery. Before selling him the idea of a transplant, the patient was welcomed, convinced but the situation turned sour when the grafts did not grow. To make matters worse, the patient could not even have a short hair cut due to the terrible scar he was saddled with. The recipient area had healed but the surgeon was wrong in making the patient feel as though it were his fault. A surgeon first and foremost needs to be compassionate enough to treat every patient with not just medicines and operations but also proper counseling and adequate or qualitative feedback. As for patients, they need to do thorough research before signing up for hair transplant or any such procedure and must not consider this to be some mysterious process where the outcome hinges on chance or luck. Most factors are within the control of the surgeon and his team.
However, many times women with undiagnosed conditions like alopecia may face some problems with hair grafts.
People should be aware that as they age they will face thinning hair and not fall prey to miracle peddlers and their false promises. A transplant done at thirty years of age will have different result than one which is done later. New procedures like FUE have made inroads into hair restoration, but before opting for it, a consultation with experts is vital to avoid disappointment later. Any person going in for any kind of treatment should feel free to ask questions such as density coverage, downtime, side-effects or any other concerns like a scar. The best bet would be to seek testimonials of those who have already been through the procedure. At A K Clinics we have a dedicated team of qualified professionals who educate the patient about the procedure and dispel doubts. Our centres in Ludhiana, Delhi, Mumbai are open to people from all walks of life, who want to change their tomorrow and face it with confidence.
Will soya enriched shampoo really work wonders for your hair from “root to tip” as the conditioner ad proclaims? Have you tried every tip in the book, TV commercial, blogs like this one and are still left fuming and frustrated with bushels of hair yanked out by your high-quality imported brush? Can any oil or changes in your diet become that ultimate miracle cure for falling hair and its consequent larger nightmare, baldness?
And when is hair fall a cause for serious concern, especially since losing almost 40-50 strands of hair daily is considered normal? Understand the cycle of hair growth to differentiate whether suffering from hair fall at a particular time or season is okay or needs treatment on a war footing. For instance, genetically if you are not blessed with thick hair, but thin hair, it should not be cause for worry. But if your hair has begun to become sparse or due to hormonal changes, stress or other factors like environmental pollution, residue from hair sprays and gels, you have begun to experience hair fall or thinning hair, then you need to identify the cause and appropriate form of rectifying this.
While everyone clamours for Rapunzel-like hair and what with radio jingles and contests promising the moon, it is natural for people to think that despite having a far-from-desirable crown, it is possible to swish one’stresses like the gorgeous Ashwarya Rai endorsing a hair colour. The truth is doing a reality check. Baldness can be treated, so can various other hair problems under the guidance of experts like the world renowned surgeons at A K Clinics with their centres in Ludhiana, Delhi, Mumbai. However, it is necessary to be able to discern whether your condition warrants such a high level of expertise and specialized, medical care. If yes, research extensively before signing up for any technique, check testimonials thoroughly and only then take a decision about which option will give optimum results, in terms of downtime, cost and a whole lot of factors that need to be examined with a fine-toothed comb. Your checklist should contain a yes answer for minimum three of the following:
1) Is the cure being prescribed, a permanent one?
2) Is the treatment, the best possible alternative or a compromise due to lack of technological development?
3) Will the treatment enhance my relationship or career prospects?
4) Is the procedure being followed tried and tested and conducted by certified professionals?
5) Am I certain there will be no side-effects and prepared to deal with drawbacks should the procedure go wrong?
Few days ago, I met one of my college friends over the lunch at a newly opened restaurant in the town. I noticed that this friend of mine who was known as a confident, cheerful and buoyant guy of our gang has been showing the signs of insecurity. Suddenly I saw something strange, he chopped of his hair and was hiding behind a cap. He revealed that in a moment of nostalgia, he shaved off his head for a charity cause to raise some funds.
I remember him having healthy and wavy hair. Yes! He had that kind of hair that would make anyone go green with envy. He shared his experience with me; we chatted for hours discussing “How does it feel like to shave the crown jewel of your head” and it made us realize the importance of hair in one’s life. Soon our conversation took the road to explore the effects of baldness in a person’s life. Having no hair or not much hair on your head can be a devastating experience not only for women but for men also or shall we say it is even more traumatic for men as they suffer from localized baldness whereas women suffer from diffusion baldness. It has been rightly said by James Brown that, ‘Hair is the first thing’ (that a man needs in his life, if he has got it), ‘He has got it all’. Baldness directly attacks one’s confidence level and self-esteem. Insults like “slaphead”, “baldie”, “chrome dome” are thrown at them. Gradually, it develops into depression which in turn affects both their personal & professional lives.
This is the reason why most bald men start alienating themselves from relationships, family, friends & professional growth. They dodge public gatherings and social meetings. Many try to hide their baldness by wearing caps, like my friend did. They even avoid wearing formal clothing. While some who are not completely bald get their remaining hair shaved also, in a desperate attempt to look for a solution. So what a person should do in this situation? Throughout the century, so many inventions have been made in hair restoration field that it seems nothing is impossible now. Both the surgical and non-surgical methods have been evolved. Non-surgical method includes medicines & therapies like Mesotherapy & Laser therapy that solve the purpose but they only give up to 30-40% results while surgical method includes hair transplant surgery which give permanent results.Hair transplant helps not only in improving a person’s appearance but also transforms their way of living life. It revives the lost confidence, self –esteem and enthusiasm. Hair transplant is the best & only permanent solution for baldness. Hair transplantation is a surgical technique that moves individual hair follicles from a part of the body called the ‘donor site’ to bald or balding part of the body known as the ‘recipient site’.
There has been a myth doing rounds that getting a hair transplant is very painful which is not true. Hair transplant is done under the impression of local anesthesia, which makes the procedure completely pain-free so much so that a patient can even enjoy the music, read magazines or watch T.V inside the O.T during the procedure. Not only this, the patient can also resume his/her daily activities from the very next day after the surgery. Due to technique advancements, it has also become a very safe method of hair restoration. Nowadays hair transplantation services are accessible everywhere, at varied prices. But a person should think twice before making a choice here, as people often get lured by tactics adopted by several inexperienced institutions, where a patient can get transplantation done at relatively low-cost but they compromise quality over cost. Transplantation done by a well-experienced doctor ensures quality results and at AK Clinics the maximum experience of doctors promises the best quality at cost-effective price. The reason of baldness can be many such as genetic baldness, accident, hormonal changes or it can be the reason for which my friend shaved his head. But one thing is assured, with such wide arena of treatments available one doesn’t need to suffer the trauma attached with baldness.
WhatsApp us