|  | Conditions Treatments | Hair Loss

Cures for Natural Baldness

As men age, they tend to lose their hair. It's a simple fact--one you can generally chalk up to genetics--but it's not one many men are ready to accept. Only a lucky few avoid hair loss altogether. Even a fancy medical term like androgenetic alopecia does not make it any more palatable. Women experience hair loss as they age, too, though generally in a more diffuse pattern rather than classic male-pattern baldness that starts at the crown and the temples. The treatments for men are similar.

  1. Minoxidil

    • Minoxidil is a topical medication marketed as Rogaine in the United States. It comes in 2 percent and 5 percent solutions. Rogaine serves best as a preventive measure, helping you hang on to the hair you have left. It can help you grow a bit of new hair, too, but this takes about four months of twice-a-day use. Results are likely to be better in the crown area than at the front of the head. As of 2009, a three-month supply of the 5 percent solution is available at Hocks.com for $34.99.

    Finasteride

    • Finasteride is a prescription medication sold under the brand name Propecia. Unlike Rogaine, Propecia is for use only in men. It comes in pill form, and like Rogaine, it's best for helping you keep your hair, not for growing new hair, though it does have some limited hair-growing properties. Also like Rogaine, it is is intended for indefinite use. You may not see any benefits until after three months of usage. And if you stop treatment, you are likely to lose any newly regrown hair. Finasteride is also used, in a higher dosage under the name Proscar, to shrink an enlarged prostate.

    Surgery

    • Apart from hairpieces and weaves, your only option for treating baldness besides medications is surgery. While "hair plug" surgery was once derided for the patchy and obvious look it created, techniques for hair restoration have improved considerably in recent years. Essentially, hair is removed from the back of the head and placed in the area where you have been losing hair. Instead of being transplanted in plugs of dozens of follicles, hair is now transplanted in units of one or a few hairs, creating a more natural--and far less obvious--appearance. As of 2009, Hair Surgery Specialists Northwest, a practice in Oregon, says a typical patient needing three hair replacement sessions might pay about $16,500 total for treatment.

Hair Loss - Related Articles