No Room for Optimism for New Hair Treatments?
While I don’t disagree necessarily with the premise that doing nothing now, in hopes of treatment in the future, is a course of action that is done at an individual’s own peril — the balance of this response is quite gloomy and alarming. Of course, you are the professional, and we defer to your knowledge — but you truly believe that NO beter treament will be available to the public for decades? That hits many of us prety hard. I am a realist. However, is there no room for optimism? There is a market for this, and certainly a willingness, as evidenced by the research of the past 6 years, in finding better alernatives. Those are my thoughts. Thanks for the site — more so, when it provdies hope, as opposed to narrow courses of expensive, sometimes (not always) unflatering, options.
Hey, I was hoping for flying cars, public space travel, and a cure for cancer by now. I’d even settle for a cure for the common cold. I would like to think of myself as an optimist… you know, a glass-half-full kind of guy… but the cure for balding is not as easy as you may think. Being bald is like the color of your eyes, the way your ear lobes fold, or how tall you are. It is genetics! And as much as gene therapy is the new buzzword in science, it is a long ways off.
In the mean time, for those men who are bald, there are great alternatives. Hair transplant surgeries have evolved to a point where it is almost undetectable when done by the right surgeon and medical group. See my post on selecting the right surgeon. And when combined with medications such as Propecia, it definitely changes lives. So I am not sure what some of you are looking for, but hair transplants really are not unflattering nor expensive. While I agree at face value the cost of a hair transplant surgery may be in the thousands of dollars, remember that it works and it’s for life! It is often less expensive than a good quality wig, which has to be replaced or repaired ever couple of years. What other item can you purchase for a few thousand dollars to make you look younger and you get to keep for the rest of your life? As you say, you are a realist — it may not be the fountain of youth, but for the optimist, its the next best thing.
Don’t you even have any small hope for companies like Histogen, Follica, or adreans.
They seem to be having small positive results?
See, I don’t think peoples concerns have to do with thinking hair transplants are detectable. Personally, I think that a hair transplant would work well. I was hoping for hair cloning for two main reasons:
1. It can cover the whole head. With a hair transplant, it is very, very unlikely that I can cover the crown and the front and have it look full. With hair cloning, that potential greatly, greatly increases.
2. The scars. If I ever wanted or needed to shave my head because I was losing the battle even with a hair transplant, I’d have a noticeable scar on the back/side of my head. With hair cloning, that presumably wouldn’t be an issue.
I don’t think people are taking jabs at hair transplants… I just think they perceive an ideal alternative and would prefer that.
Personally, if hair transplants could provide me a full head of hair, I’d pay good money for it. Hair, to me, is worth more than a BMW (and lasts a lot longer).
And for the record, I agree with the original message. The thought of it not being available for decades is ominous, but hope springs eternal.
I agree with Richard and would add the following…
I do agree that by all measures the quality of transplants has improved immensely. To my knowledge, medicine is a gradual process. There may not be a huge breakthrough, rather the gradual improvement as we see in hair transplant procedures. For example, minor procedures such as root canals are not painful at all anymore and AIDS is no longer a death sentence as it was in the 80s. Overall, people are generally living longer. Likewise, there may be new medicines/procedures introduced, but I suspect those too will take time to improve/perfect.
But in regards to hair transplants…they’re not a few thousand dollars, more likely several thousands of dollars. Unless one has a lot of money, that’s out of reach for most people. I’m not begrudging it (supply/demand) and it is an elective procedure, but it is expensive.
Also, it’s hard to justify spending such money if the results aren’t practically guaranteed. Not only that, it’s hard to justify unless one is going to get nearly all of their hair back. For me, I don’t see being less bald as being better than more bald. I either want all my hair or let nature takes it course. Call me greedy, but that’s how I am in regards to hair :)
To be fair, I’ve never had a consult for a HT, so perhaps I should do so and then give a full opinion. Either way, this is a great site full of great info.