Central Florida Health and Wellness Magazine Health and Wellness Articles of the Villages
Related Articles
By Alan J. Bauman, M.D., ABHRS
After 2020, we are all ready for a fresh start.
Last year was challenging for all of us. Too many Zoom calls, too many canceled plans, and too few visits with family and friends. But as we optimistically look ahead to what is in store in the New Year, we can all agree we want to look and feel our best when we are reunited with friends and family again.
For many of us, the stress of 2020 has led us to make some lifestyle choices that aren’t always the healthiest, such as smoking, drinking, irregular sleep patterns, less exercise, etc. These habits aren’t just unhealthy; they can also act as triggers for unhealthy hair, and even hair loss.
As you begin putting your healthy resolutions into action, you may see the health of your hair improving as well. Here are some simple ways you can boost both your overall health and the health of your follicles.
Eat a healthy, balanced diet – Men and women who lack these key vitamins are more at risk of thinning and unhealthy hair – biotin, antioxidants, zinc, iron, Vitamin B, and protein. Steep drops in these essential nutrients can force the hair follicles to shed their hair strands and go into a prolonged resting phase during which time no new hairs are grown. To ensure your hair stays healthy, or to give unhealthy hair a boost, make you’re your diet is packed full of hair “superfoods,” which include: lean red meat, fish, berries, pomegranate juice, beans, artichokes, and nuts. If you can stomach it, liver, with its abundance of iron, is one of the best foods for your hair.
Don’t smoke – Male pattern baldness or Androgenetic Alopecia has its “roots” in the male sex hormone Dihydrotestosterone, which triggers progressive miniaturization of the hair follicles, based on age and hereditary risk factors. Social factors such as nutrition, diet, lifestyle, stress, medications all are believed to have an impact on the progression of male and female hair loss. Smoking restricts blood flow (think vital oxygen/nutrients/etc) to the skin and follicles, accelerating age-related changes. Researchers have recently shown that the more a man or woman smokes, the worse his/her baldness is likely to be – so add that to your list of reasons to quit!
Take Your Vitamins – Hair follicles are amongst the most metabolically active populations of cells in your body. If you are looking to give your hair a boost, a nutritional supplement like professional-grade Bauman-MD “SuperBiotin,” Viviscal Professional – made from marine protein, or perhaps Nutrafol – a multi-nutraceutical, are good places to start. Nutrafol Male, Nutrafol Female, and Nutrafol Balance for women 50+ are exciting nutraceutical products because they target several possible triggers for hair loss and hair thinning, including hormones, inflammation, the effects of cortisol (stress hormones), free radical damage, and others.
Choose the Right Hair Care – When choosing grooming products, look for products that contain caffeine, saw palmetto (Serenoa Repens), and green tea extracts (ECGC), as these can help strengthen the follicles and help prevent shedding. Minoxidil is the FDA-approved hair growth ingredient in Rogaine and many other generic over-the-counter products, but these oily/greasy minoxidil mixtures can still cause major irritation in the scalp unless you seek out an alternative powerful compounded prescription version like quick-dry, non-greasy Compounded Formula 82M Minoxidil.
Check Your Medications – There are many prescription medications that are known to be associated with hair loss. Some of the commonly prescribed categories of drugs that can exacerbate hair loss include antihypertensives (blood pressure), cholesterol/statins, hormone replacement like thyroid, birth control, testosterone, etc., certain mood modulators/antidepressants, antibiotics, anti-acne, antifungals, chemotherapy agents and ask your Hair Restoration Physician what you can do for your hair if you need to use them.
Take Care of Your Scalp – Whether your problem is an itchy scalp or thinning hair, a little scalp pampering may be just what the doctor ordered. New “Scalp Makeovers” are available to treat various hair and scalp problems, including thinning – it’s sort of like a high-tech facial for the scalp – both therapeutic and relaxing. Evaluations start with a detailed scientific “Trico-Test” and treatments range from sebum-regulating topical serums to scalp steaming and massage, Keravive exfoliation treatments with stem cell peptides, moisturizing lotions, and hair-boosting dermal patches.
Stop wasting time and money on a “quick fix” – Don’t let yourself be duped by potions, lotions, elixirs, and “miracle hair-growth cures.” Hair loss is a treatable condition, but it isn’t a quick fix. Often, as it is in many areas of medicine, “multi-therapy,” “multimodal” or a combination of several different treatments, may have the best chance for achieving long-term success depending on the patient’s risk factors, the severity of their condition, and their unique hair restoration goals. This approach not only focuses on restoring hair that has been lost but also protects the hair that you have against suffering the same fate.
For more information on the causes and treatments for hair loss, or to learn what treatment regimen is right for you, please call 561-220-3480, schedule your consultation at www.baumanmedical.com.
Here are some of the advanced tools and treatment options that are available at Bauman Medical to help you meet your 2021 hair restoration goals:
Minimally Invasive, Permanent, No-Linear-Scar Follicular Unit Excision/Extraction (FUE) Hair Transplant using SmartGraft®, NeoGraft®, ARTAS robotic-assisted, or the newest No-Shave VIP|FUE™.
High-Density Platelet Rich Plasma (HD-PRP) “Vampire” Hair Regrowth Therapy with Extracellular Matrix (ECM)
PDOgro™- Implanted PDO Polydioxanone threads for hair growth
Non-surgical 3D-Printed Hair Systems or Cranial Prostheses
Compounded Formula 82M Minoxidil – a more powerful, non-greasy Rogaine alternative
Compounded Formula 82F Topical Finasteride + Minoxidil – designed to reduce the risk of side-effects from oral finasteride (Propecia).
Low-Level Laser Therapy – FDA-cleared, drug-free, side-effect-free hair regrowth using a powerful physician-only device such as the Bauman “Turbo” LaserCap devices for at-home use.
Vitamins, Nutritionals & Nutraceuticals: SuperBiotin, Nutrafol & ViviscalPRO
Hair Loss Risk Management – the identification and reduction of medical and lifestyle risk factors that detrimentally impact hair growth.
Bauman Medical Hair Restauration
561-220-3480
www.baumanmedical.com
