Laser Hair Restoration Facts

If you are going bald you probably have heard about using laser hair restoration techniques to re-grow the hair on you head.  When I first heard about this it didn't make any sense to me at all.  I had heard a lot about using lasers to remove hair from upper lips and other unwanted places but never for helping hair regrow.  I couldn't understand how laser light could make the hair follicles grow hair better.

Once I did some research into this matter I understood where the theory was coming from.  It does make sense of a cursory level but I am not sure it makes sense when a person really studies what is going on.  This is the problem.  There have been claims made about the laser hair restoration that haven't, at this time, been substantiated with peer reviewed studies.  Until this is done we will not know whether the laser hair treatment helps to regrow hair from bald spots or not.

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence from patients who have used the laser comb or laser brush and who claim they have seen hair growth because of it but this is not necessarily good evidence.  There were not good records kept and the people really did want their hair to grow which may have made a difference in measuring.

The majority of men, and many women, who lose their hair in patches are suffering from male pattern baldness for the men and female pattern baldnes for the women.  This is a genetically driven condition that can be passed from either the mother's side of the family or the father's.  Legend had it that the chances for early onset balding followed the mothers line but modern genetic research has determined that the likelyhood is the same for either parent.

The cause of male or female pattern baldness is a build up of DHT at the hair follicle site.  This build up inhibits the transfer of oxygen and nutrients from the enriched blood supply to the hair follicle.  Like a little factory, the follicle must have a steady supply of raw materials in order to produce its desired output which in this case is hair shaft material.  Without the needed raw materials a hair follicle can not produce hair shaft just like a factory can not produce cars or TVs if it doesn't have the proper materials to work with.

The DHT is a metabolite of the male hormone testosterone.  Metabolites are products of metabolism.  So in this case, DHT is a product of the metabolism of the testosterone hormone.  To metabolize just means to break down so the DHT is developed when the testosterone is broken down into other substances.  Although it is called the male hormone, testosterone is found in both men and women.  Thus the conditions known as male pattern baldnes and female pattern baldness are caused by the same agent.

The DHT has a tendency to bond to the hair follicle and cause the blood supply to be choked off.  This does not happen all at once but instead is a progressive condition.  First the hair shaft diameter starts to decrease, that is the hair shaft thickness start to shrink.  As the shafts decrease in size they get more and more susceptible to breakage.  Eventually the shaft has been malnourished so much it withers to a consistency like peach fuzz hence the name of this really thin hair.

It would make sense that increasing the blood flow to the hair would the follicle would help it to produce thick hair again.  This is where the laser comb theory comes into play.  The manufacturers claim the low light therapy from the comb will increase the temperature of the scalp and thus the hair follicles and thus give increased blood flow.  The idea is that heating the tissue will cause the blood to flow better.  This is just like when you cut yourself on a hot day you tend to bleed more than when your cut occurs on a cold, winter morning.

As I said before, whether or not this actually works as advertised has not been determined by scientifically approved testing methods.  There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that claims laser hair growth and laser hair regrowth but there is not any good scientific proof.

Laser hair replacement just has not been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.