Should We Bother Treating MPB?

I just read this article about hair loss on MSN — The Naked Truth About Baldness

They basically say that you shouldn’t bother medicating for MPB because the results aren’t worth it. They don’t even mention surgery as an alternative to medication. I was wondering if you believe this had any merit or if it is just lazy irresponsible writing.

The author of that article concludes the piece by saying, “From a medical point of view, there is no need to treat male pattern baldness. At best, the treatments are expensive and only partially effective.”

The medication treatments aren’t necessarily that expensive and effectiveness depends on the person. Surgical hair transplantation cost can vary depending on how much is required, but there have been some beautiful results. From a medical point of view, he is right — you do not need to treat male pattern baldness. It isn’t a life or death issue. But from a social point of view, I think millions of men would disagree as hair plays a very real and important role, defining our youth, virility, and sex appeal. Celebrities like Michael Jordan, Bruce Willis (pictured), and Jason Statham may be the exception, but hair is very important to most of us! That should be fairly evident by the thousands of emails I’ve answered on this site.

Male pattern hair loss is not a disease and there is no cure for it, though medication such as Propecia and Rogaine can slow the process down dramatically in some people, possibly even reversing it in younger men. Hair transplantation may not be worth it for some people (such as the writer of the quoted article), but the solutions are absolutely natural and undetectable when done in the hands of an artistic and competent hair surgeon.