Amusing Father’s Day Card Messages Aside, Hair Loss Isn’t Funny

by Alan J. Bauman, MD, ABHRS

I was looking at some Father’s Day cards the other day in a gift shop when I found myself intrigued by several humorous (corny, really) ones that playfully addressed the topic of hair loss.

Here were a few of the messages (I snapped pictures of them, so I’d get this right):

Dad, remember that you’re not losing hair; you’re just gaining a bigger forehead.

Dad, you might be losing your hair, but you’re acquiring a great hat collection!
Happy Father’s Day, Dad! Remember, you may be losing hair on your head, but you’re gaining it in your nose and your ears…and on your back.*

I can assure you, I’ve never seen a Mother’s Day card joking about a mom losing her hair. That’s because it’s culturally more acceptable for a man to have thinning hair, and because men are experts at using self-deprecating humor to cover up how they really feel. I know this because men make cracks all the time about going bald when I’m doing a consultation with them. But they also often confide in me how much it bothers them.

So, let’s get real for a moment here.

If you’re a man losing your hair, it’s probably concerning you more than you care to admit. Am I right?

It’s not unusual for my male patients to confess that their hair loss makes them feel embarrassed and self-conscious, that they worry (a lot) about how their appearance might be affecting their professional life and, especially, their love life.

Most male pattern hair loss (androgenic alopecia) is believed to be due to a combination of genetics and hormones called androgens that play a role in male traits. The biggest androgen culprit is DHT (dihydrotestosterone), a by-product of testosterone production.

In men with certain genetics, DHT causes hair follicles to progressively shrink and produce weaker, thinner, and shorter hair over time in a predictable pattern. The pattern starts as a receding hairline and thinning in the crown and can result in the loss of all hair up top, sparing the sides and back of the scalp.

This doesn’t mean that a man with male pattern hair loss has more testosterone than those without hair loss (sorry guys). He’s just inherited a sensitivity to DHT, causing his follicles to miniaturize in the typical pattern.

While you can’t undo the genetics causing your hair loss, we offer several powerful ways to encourage your hair to grow back, to thicken, or to stop or slow down hair loss. Here are a few of our most popular ones:

TED (TransEpidermal Delivery)
TED is ideal for people averse to surgery or having their blood drawn. It’s needle-free, pain-free, requires no anesthesia of any kind, and is highly effective, especially for people with early androgenic alopecia.

It involves massaging a specialized topical hair growth serum into your scalp, assisted by ultrasonic sound waves and air pressure. The process gently enhances the penetration of the serum into the scalp by temporarily increasing scalp permeability. At the same time, increased blood flow optimizes scalp health and stimulates hair follicles to produce thicker, stronger, healthier hair. This FDA-cleared Class 1 medical device is clinically proven to quickly start minimizing shedding and improve hair growth and scalp health.

Low-Level LaserCaps
Bauman’s low-level LaserCaps – we offer five of them –
are drug-free, chemical-free, non-invasive, FDA-cleared, and scientifically proven to improve the appearance of hair quality, strength, and thickness of thinning hair and to stimulate measurable and visible hair growth.

Our newest and most high-tech LaserCap, the TURBO LaserCap™ is especially popular because using it takes just five minutes per day.

PDOgro™
Bauman Medical was the first hair restoration clinic in the U.S. to use PDO threads to enhance hair growth.

PDO, or polydioxanone, is a synthetic absorbable FDA-cleared material. Used for decades in surgery, and more recently in aesthetic procedures to reverse the appearance of skin aging, PDO threads placed into the scalp stimulate hair regrowth. This procedure is typically performed in combination with PRP. Hidden under the skin, the threads dissolve and are absorbed over time, stimulating collagen production, new blood vessel formation, and a release of powerful rejuvenating growth factors.

The PDOgro™ procedure may help prevent or reduce the need for future hair transplantation by stopping, slowing, or reversing hair loss.

PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma)
PRP is a comfortable in-office procedure requiring no recovery, downtime, or significant risk. Derived from a small sample of your blood, platelets and plasma are separated from other components of the blood, concentrated, then applied into the scalp under local anesthesia to invigorate weak hair follicles. With our methods, which use 10-12 Billion platelets per treatment, you can expect hair growth improvements from a single treatment to last a year or more.

VIP|FUE™ hair transplant procedure
VIP|FUE™ offers patients all the advantages of traditional minimally invasive FUE (follicular unit extraction) – no linear scar and a quicker, more comfortable recovery. (FUE involves extracting individual hair follicles from a donor area and transplanting them to the balding area.)

However, VIP|FUE™ is the only transplant procedure that doesn’t require the donor area to be trimmed or shaved. Hair left in the donor area remains the same length through the procedure and recovery. It’s the ultimate in discretion because your hairstyle does not change through the process.

*And….ah, hem…about that back hair…
Bauman Medical does hair removal too! Ask us about Clarity, our state-of-the-art laser hair removal tool. It’s so good you may come back some day, but not for your back.

Learn more
I realize it’s impossible to know from reading everything above which option is best for you. The best way to find out is to schedule your private one-on-one in-person or virtual consultation. So take a minute to call us at 561-220-3480, or visit us at www.BaumanMedical.com.

Bauman Medical Hair Restoration for Men and Women
www.BaumanMedical.com
561-220-3480