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Summary & Participants

Hair loss has always been a top cosmetic concern for men but it's only in recent years that proven medical options have become available. What are the options, and what can they really achieve? Join us for an in-depth look at the state-of-the-art in hair loss treatment.

Medically Reviewed On: April 18, 2002

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Hair loss has always been a top cosmetic concern for men of all ages, but it's only in recent years that proven medical options have become available and surgical techniques have been refined to produce remarkable results. This means real hope for men who are concerned about balding; But it's important to have a realistic understanding of the options and what they can achieve.

KEN WASHENIK, MD: I see many men in my clinical practice who come in with the problem of thinning hair, hair loss, baldness, and in the question invariably is, "What can I do about it?" And I think, you know, there are a few options.

One is surgical-surgical hair restoration, a hair transplant. The other is medical. And we only have two drugs. We have Rogaine, or minoxidil, a liquid you rub on your head, and Propecia, a pill you take once a day. These are the options.

ROBERT BERNSTEIN, MD: Hair loss is not a process where you go from having hair to being bald. What happens is the hair goes through a process of miniaturization where it gradually gets thinner and shorter, and medication can reverse that process. It can take very fine hair, which really doesn't have much cosmetic benefit, and then make it a full, thick hair.

ANNOUNCER: But do these medications work on all types of hair loss?

KEN WASHENIK, MD: Rogaine and Propecia are specifically indicated for the treatment of male pattern hair loss, the common, inherited type of hair loss that is by far overwhelmingly the majority-what the majority of patients have. There is, I think, a misconception that, well, they only work if you're losing your hair in the back. They don't work in the middle or in the front, along the frontal hairline. And in fact, that's not true.

ANNOUNCER: One of the most important factors in treating hair loss is setting the patient's expectations.

KEN WASHENIK, MD: Rogaine and Propecia can certainly help hold your hair. The question is, can you regrow some hair and gain some back, and the answer is yes. And in the case of Propecia, especially, a good number of men actually gain hair back. After two years, around two thirds of men who take Propecia will have more hair than they did two years earlier, when they started it.

ANNOUNCER: As with most treatments, timing plays a key role in achieving maximum results.

KEN WASHENIK, MD: Realistically, the earlier they start, the sooner they get on treatment, the better off they're going to be, because what we do best medically is keep your hair. Although many men can gain hair back, your goal should always be to start early enough that if you maintain the hair you have today, you'd be happy. And we do know from the clinical trial data that men who started even one year later, as a group, did not quite gain back as much hair as the men who started a year earlier.

ANNOUNCER: For men with more severe hair loss, surgery can be an effective option.

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