Hair Loss News

“About 6 months ago my hairdresser discovered I had a bald patch at the back of my head.  Needless to say, I was distraught, especially since there was no way to hide it as my hair was cut short.  It took this shock to make me confront that my hair was thinning and it was at this point that I came to the Belgravia Centre. 

It’s been 6 months now, and although I was initially dubious, the results speak for themselves.  The patch no longer exists, my hair is generally thicker.  All my friends have noticed how much better my hair looks and I’m absolutely thrilled with the results.  I suffered for so long with thinning hair, but now things are looking much better.  It’s worked for me – and I hope it works for those of you who need this.

Thank you.”

M.J.G

Diagnosis:  Female Pattern Hair Loss and Alopecia Areata

    
Month 1                                                  Month 7

      
  Month 1                                                Month 7

If you happen to be in Arizona or Pennsylvania and undertaking whole-brain radiotherapy (gulp), you might be eligible and willing to help with the trial of a hair loss gel intended to prevent hair loss. Contact the company directly.

Results are due mid next year and we will, of course, keep an eye out for the results and for any possible wider uses of Tempol, the active ingredient.

A growing number of children are experiencing hair loss, according to recent media hype. It’s not all that surprising either considering that along with genetics, stress is the main instigator of alopecia areata and that an estimated one in five children experience some form of mental health problem. A recent Parentline Plus survey revealed two thirds of parents are concerned about their children’s stress levels and, it would seem, not without good reason.

In a study involving 180 patients between 5 and 16 years of age, a stressful event or situation was cited at the onset or at a new outbreak of alopecia areata in 81 percent of cases. Prolonged stressful situations were more influential than single stressful events and the most prominent stress factors were experience of separation, relational problems, and difficulties of the child to come up to the expectations of their own parents with respect to the conduct in general and to progress in school. These findings are further confirmed in the Parentline Plus survey which identified bullying (33 percent), parents’ separation (28), drug use (11) and rejection by a parent (eight) as the main causes of stress.

Alopecia areata is a relatively common hair loss condition that can affect as many as one person in a thousand at some time in their life but exact figures for children are not known. It falls in the category of autoimmune disorders which means that for unknown reasons, the body’s own immune system attacks the hair follicles and disrupts normal hair formation. What activates and promotes the onset of alopecia areata is largely unknown but there are several suggested factors that may influence the course of alopecia areata.

With alopecia areata, hair loss is quite patchy and tends to occur rapidly. There is also a form of more generalised thinning of hair referred to as diffuse alopecia areata throughout the scalp. Occasionally, all of the scalp hair is lost, a condition referred to as alopecia totalis. Less frequently, the loss of all of the hairs on the entire body, called alopecia universalis, occurs.

In some cases of alopecia areata, hair will regrow within a year without any treatment but the longer the period of hair loss, the less likelihood that the hair will regrow. Leonora Doclis, senior trichologist at the Belgravia Centre says there is no prognosis to determine the likelihood that the child’s hair will grow back.

“As a rule of thumb, if within six months the hair hasn’t grown back it’s time to do something about it,” Leonora said.

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No idle pub claim, that’s the cold assessment of Ronald Noble, the Secretary General of Interpol who says that 40 years of terrorism has killed about 65,000 people, while 200,000 people died from the use of counterfeit drugs last year alone, and that’s just in China.

It’s a growing problem in the UK too. UK customs seized 500,000 counterfeit pills last year… but they only check 0.1% of the pharmaceuticals entering the country. It doesn’t take much to estimate that for every man, woman and child in this country there are eight counterfeit pills entering the country every year. Your chance of encountering one is probably higher than you think.

Why are counterfeit drugs a problem?

• They may contain very little or no active ingredient. So you won’t be getting the medication you need or paid for, leaving you vulnerable to the illness you’re trying to cure.
• They may contain harmful chemicals by design.
• They are not made to the same standards, so may contain impurities. Recent findings include anti-freeze and lead-based road paint.

When you pay money for counterfeit drugs, you’re supporting criminality and undermining society.

A recent research project conducted by Pfizer in September 2008 in UK cities concluded that 10% of men admitted to buying prescription-only medicines from unregulated sources such as the Internet. It is estimated that between 50-90 per cent of medicines sold on the Internet have proven to be counterfeit which means they are taking a real gamble with their health. This has led Pfizer to work with other agencies to produce a hard hitting cinema ad showing a man regurgitating a dead rat after taking medicines purchased online that contained rat-poison. This is only suitable for viewers over 15 years of age:

Pfizer’s counterfeit drugs ad showing in UK cinemas

It’s perfectly legal in the UK for a pharmacy to trade online. All UK pharmacies (including online ones) have to register with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Each should have a registration number which you can check here. The Belgravia Centre provides an in-house trichological pharmacy, registration number 1085323.

A reputable online pharmacy will insist on a doctor’s prescription and confirm your order online. Alternatively, the Belgravia Centre has its own doctor working in the centre who can raise prescriptions as required. Disreputable pharmacies will allow you simply to buy.

How can you tell if an online pharmacy is registered in the UK? Online pharmacies that wish to evade regulation can do so easily by setting up in a country with lax laws and enforcement. Nothing stops someone in the UK viewing that company’s website, which they may have designed to make it look like they are in the UK. At least check for a UK address, and if you happen to know there’s a physical presence here in the UK, that’s even better.

You may feel that having drugs shipped from China is a good thing, providing lower prices and a way to escape from the hegemony of big pharma. The problem is, you do get what you pay for. If the price you see seems too good to be true, it probably is. The World Health Organisation says that of online pharmacies that don’t give an address, 50% of the drugs they sell are fake. No-one knows how many deaths have occurred in the UK as a result of either impurities in the fake drugs, or because of people not getting the medication they need (but thinking they are).

Of course, you should always check any website provides a clear postal address and contact details before making a payment. A site that doesn’t is in breach of the Distance Selling Regulations and should be reported to your local Trading Standards office.

In 2007 the Daily Mail reported on the ‘biggest counterfeit medicine scam ever uncovered in Britain‘. The scam involved sales of the hair loss medicine Propecia, as well as other well-known medicines such as Viagra and Cialis.

Even officials who work full time in this area can no longer tell if a drug is fake just by looking at it or its packaging. Recently the manufacturer of an anti-malarial drug added a hologram to its blisterfoil pack to beat the counterfeiters. It was copied within a month.

Men are a particular target. With a tendency to wait until things are bad before turning up to their GPs, men are more likely to avoid embarrassment by self diagnosing and self medicating. According to Scotland on Sunday, detectives say this is ‘pushing people into the hands of Internet dealers linked to organised crime’. UK men are contributing as much as £10.2m per year to the counterfeit medicines market.

Criminal gangs are moving from producing lifestyle drugs such as Viagra to copying lifesaving drugs such as the fake Zyprexa (a treatment for Schizophrenia) that found its way into the NHS last year. Doing so targets people at their most vulnerable. Many youngsters in Haiti died last year from being given a fake cough syrup.

Some warn not only of the problems of funding crime, but of the links between criminal gangs and terrorist groups, and of the possible vulnerability of the UK to an unconventional terrorist attack using fake pharmaceuticals. Buying fake drugs, then, becomes an issue of social responsibility. It’s about what sort of society you want to live in.

The fightback has begun. UK Customs has set the search for counterfeit drugs on a level with the search for hard drugs such as heroin. People who campaign on road safety issues often say something like “it’ll take someone being killed before they lower the speed limit here”. Wrong as that may sound, if true, at least that means the authorities are watching and assessing the risks and allocating their resources accordingly.

Officialdom has to be able to justify its actions. After Thalidomide, when a drug prescribed to pregnant women was found to produce severe birth defects (typically, very short limbs), new rules were introduced to ensure drugs were tested for safety during pregnancy.

The cost of developing a new drug is about $800m, and those costs have to be recouped within 20 years of the drug’s invention. Pharmaceutical companies would surely like to reduce these costs, but the drug safety and efficacy testing regime represents the sum of our experience in how to develop, manufacture and deploy drugs safely. In other words, when something goes wrong, action is taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

That, plus the work of the police, customs and everyone else involved gives us confidence generally that the drugs we are prescribed and buy from reputable pharmacies are effective, worth the money, and safe to use.

Always buy drugs and medicines from a reputable source. The Belgravia Centre’s clinic next to Victoria Station in London offers a free consultation.

If you are outside London try the on-line hair loss diagnostic form. A hair loss specialist will examine your form, diagnose your hair loss condition and recommend a suitable course of treatment. You will then be contacted by a Belgravia treatment advisor who will discuss your treatment options with you, and your treatment programme will be dispatched by post.

References:

http://www.realdanger.co.uk/

http://www.guardian.co.uk

http://www.belgraviacentre.com/bewarearticle.htm

http://www.mhra.gov.uk

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide

http://www.scripnews.com/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_development

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Herbs versus science

I recently watched a video on YouTube about fake before/after photos frequently being used not only in the hair loss industry, but in many other industries also.

It’s quite a popular video (I’ll pop a link up at the end of this post) so I’m sure many people worried about hair loss will see it.  So I thought it important that I confront this issue (seeing as we hold so many ‘before and during’ photos) and get something up on here just to explain our stance on the truth behind before/after (or as Belgravia calls them… ‘before and during’) photos.

The YouTube channell that posted this video is called ‘Bald Truth Radio’ – it’s moderated by a guy called Spencer Kobren who presents a radio show every week in the USA that’s related purely to hair loss and awareness about the genuine solutions available, and the not so genuine options.  We’re really supportive of Spencer and his show because he holds the same values as Belgravia and raises awareness in the USA (as we do in the UK) about the companies and products that give the hair loss industry a bad name.  As you will see – this particular video is mostly related to hair transplant organisations and explains how differences in lighting can make the thickness of hair in 2 photos of the same head, taken just moments apart, look different.  But I’m worried that this, or similarly misleading actions or claims happens with hair loss treatment organisations as well.

The video makes it clear that it is not a representation of the ‘handful’ of reputable and ethical surgeons (or in our case, treatment clinics).

Unfortunately the situation is the same in the UK.  There are a number of unethical organisations that do not have the facilities to offer the medically proven options for hair loss, so they sell treatments that are minimally effective or in many cases don’t work at all.

It’s interesting because I spoke to a friend of mine who spoke to his hairdresser recently about hair loss.  His hairdresser has the belief that all hair loss before/after photos are fake – and this leads me to believe that it’s possible this could be the belief of most (or many) people who see such photos.

As I’ve mentioned before, there’s a stigma about the hair loss industry. It’s often referred to as a ’SNAKE OIL‘ industry… this is mostly because of its history.  For centuries salesman have talked about miraculous cures for hair loss and hair thinning – the most recent example of this was in the movie ‘Sweeney Todd’ where Sacha Baron Cohen (AKA Ali G / Borat) plays Adolfo Pirelli; Sweeney Todd’s rival barber who offered his audience a revolutionary (yet fraudulent!) ’cure for hair loss’.

Before the last 20 years or so the only genuine solution for hair loss was what we now refer to as ‘non-surgical hair replacement’ – something better known as a hairpiece. But things have come a long way since the mid-80s.  There are now treatments that have been proven beyond doubt to prevent and reverse hair loss and are approved by the recognised medical governing bodies in the UK and USA.  They have undergone vigorous and extensive clinical trials to ensure their effectiveness and safety, and as a result, hair clinics that offer the correct specially tailored and monitored treatment courses are able to offer what could quite easily be referred to in many cases as ‘miraculous’ results for hair loss prevention… as shown in Belgravia’s ‘before and during’ treatment photos.

Belgravia holds what I believe to be the largest collection of such photos in Europe and most probably the whole world.  They are taken of every patient who visits the centre (only a small fraction of these are displayed on our website) and most are surpised at the results when they see their own photos a few months down the line.  There is no difference in lighting in each photo and they are not doctored in any way (apart from being cropped and resized for the website).

Month 1                                    Month 4                                  Month 8
Here’s an example of the photos that are taken throughout Belgravia
patients’ treatment courses.  Not all treatment users will respond as well
as this but some degree of regrowth will usually be seen

Here’s one of our recent comments, found in the comments book on Belgravia’s reception (you can see his photo-scans a few posts down) - “One of my friends told me about Belgravia Centre, then I had a look at the website where I saw some photos, but I couldn’t believe it.  Surprisingly, now I can’t believe my photo because it’s excellent result”. It’s a perfect example of how so many people feel… and unfortunately the way people feel before having seen it for themselves sometimes stops them from giving treatment a go.  But we find that the great majority of people who begin a treatment course don’t regret it – especially once they see their photo-scans.

Although many people see positive results from a hair loss treatment course within three months (as you can see in many of our hair loss photo-scans), we always advise at least 6 months to give treatment a sure chance to take effect.  So all it takes is a small amount of dedication to see for yourself what kind of results can be expected for you.  You can see our ‘SUCCESS STORIES‘ blog category, where we publish comments from patients who have used a Belgravia treatment course along with their photo-scans.  Most of the comments can be found in our comments book on Belgravia’s reception (unless they have been sent by email)… so you can take a look if you ever want to visit the centre for an examination.

Anyone who does take up a hair loss treatment course with the Belgravia Centre will also have the chance to be monitored with photo-scans so that you yourself have a visual refernece to the response that treatment has given, giving you the opportunity to decide 6 months or a year down the line whether you feel it is worth continuing with the treatment.

It’s an unfortunate fact that there are a number of unethical organisations in the UK (and it seems the USA also) but our advice is to make sure you do your research before trying anything to prevent your hair loss.  You can begin this research on our website, which we try our best to make as informative and impartial as possible, and which I believe is one of the best information sources for hair loss on the web. So here are a few links that will help you to begin your search for the optimum hair loss solution for you, not only from our website, but from some other good hair loss websites as well…

HAIR LOSS TREATMENTS – here you’ll find our information on the effective and proven hair loss treatments, and how to get the best out of them.

HAIR LOSS AWARENESS - information on what to look out for when searching for an ethical organisation without wasting any time or money.

HAIR LOSS SUCCESS STORIES – comments from hair loss sufferers that use Belgravia’s treatments along with their photo-scans so you can see for yourself how they responded.

VIDEO ON FAKE HAIR LOSS PHOTOS – this is the video I refer to in this story, posted on YouTube by ‘Bald Truth Radio’.

AMERICAN HAIR LOSS ASSOCIATION – I’ve discovered this website recently, and although it’s American, it holds some really good information that counts for the UK too.

This article was first published on 17th September 2008.

Jade Goody’s cancer crusade has come under further strain as she battles with hair loss, one of the psychologically traumatising side effects of chemotherapy. Following a hysterectomy to remove her womb and ovaries as well as a rugby ball-sized tumour, she had already been given intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy. But Jade’s finding losing her hair to be the most shocking factor yet in her battle with cervical cancer.

“You’d think I would have been prepared for it, wouldn’t you? But somehow it just made everything feel so real,” she told the Mirror.

Jade’s hair started to thin earlier this month but when it started to come out in clumps, she found the imminent condition harder to deal with.

“I was wailing and screaming. It was awful,” she said. “Within three days it had all gone except for a couple of spiky strands.”

Jade explains the crushing effect hair loss can have on your self esteem: “Even men whose hair starts to recede admit it affects their self-confidence. But for a woman, hair is what makes them feminine, it is very hard to come to terms with it.”

Chemotherapy works by killing rapidly growing cancer cells and because it can’t discriminate between the cells it destroys, it often kills normal, healthy cells like those found in hair follicles. Hair loss can start anywhere from the first few days to within a few weeks of treatment. The degree of hair loss can vary from mild thinning to total hair loss and can occur on all parts of the body but it is not permanent and will usually grow back after the treatment has ended. The time it takes to regrow hair can vary widely, from three to 12 months and occasionally can be slightly different in terms of colour and texture, it’s possible to regain a full head of hair after three to six months.

Radiotherapy can also cause hair loss, again as a result of damaged hair follicles. Unlike chemotherapy however, hair will only be lost from the area being treated with radiotherapy. This hair loss again is usually temporary and will regrow after treatment. However, the speed and thickness of regrowth is dependent on the length of treatment and the quantity of radiotherapy received. On average it takes between six and twelve months after treatment has finished.

There is no known way to prevent chemotherapy-induced hair loss, however not all chemotherapy medications cause hair loss and whether or not one loses their hair depends in part on the specific medication and dosage administered. Other contributing factors include individual sensitivity to the medication and past drug treatment. If hair loss is a possibility, consulting a specialist regarding temporary hair replacement may be an option until full regrowth occurs. Consulting someone before the treatment starts means they will be able to closely match the color, style, and texture of your own hair.
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A YouGov survey into men’s beliefs about baldness has revealed that 87% of the 936 men surveyed did not know there is a scientifically proven hair loss treatment, and 75% did not believe treatments can prevent hair loss.

Male pattern baldness is a hereditary condition leading to the classic receding hairline especially at the temples, a balding crown, and eventually baldness over the top of the scalp with hair remaining at the sides. It’s caused by the hair follicles’ sensitivity to DHT (derived in the body from testosterone).

Propecia can prevent hair loss by stopping the effect of DHT. However the very best chances of success come from combining that with Minoxidil (the only other approved drug treatment), additional booster compounds and a laser comb (which is free with most Belgravia Centre treatment programmes), all under the guidance of an experienced trichologist who will monitor progress using scalp photographs.

The survey’s results concur with experience on online forums where any man asking for advice about what to do about their thinning hair will almost always find someone advising them to “shave it off”. If only 1 in 9 males know there’s a proven treatment, the questioner might expect just 1 person to recommend treatment for every 9 armed with a shaver. The problem with forums is they deliver received wisdom. In the case of male pattern baldness, received wisdom is incorrect.

Balding pic courtesy LaBellaVida on Flickr some rights reserved

It may soon be possible to grow new hair follicles thanks to stem cell research. Scientists have already isolated the stem cells responsible for hair follicle growth and regenerated hair follicles in mice. And whilst we’ve been advised it may be some time until a 100 percent guaranteed cure for baldness is created, the foundations for a new hair loss treatment is firmly established. 

In 2004, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine used sophisticated cell labeling techniques to track the death of the stem cells during normal hair growth and isolate them in adult mice. They transplanted an insoluble mixture of these cells into the skin of a different set of adult mice with no immune systems. The absence of an immune system prevented the mice from rejecting the stem cell transplant. Within four weeks, the transplanted cells made new hair follicles that produced new hair.

“Now that we can isolate stem cells involved in hair growth, we can develop targets for manipulating hair growth”, says study principal investigator George Cotsarelis, MD, Director of the Penn Hair and Scalp Clinic and Assistant Professor of Dermatology.

“The cells that we have isolated not only make hair follicles, but also can make other skin cells,” says Cotsarelis. “These stem cells are there for your lifetime and have a huge capacity to proliferate and regenerate.”

Not only do the findings have implications for hair growth, but also for burn treatments. Hair cannot currently grow through scars because the hair follicle has been destroyed. The hair may possibly be replaced via a hair transplant but it would depend on the severity of the scar, says Leonora Doclis, senior trichologist of the Belgravia Centre.

“A scar is basically a barren land,” she says. “You can try to fertilise it but if there’s not enough blood supply, then there’s currently not a lot you can do.” A solution however may be on the horizon.

In 2007, researchers found that hair follicles in adult mice regenerate by re-awakening genes once active only in developing embryos. It was previously believed that adult mammal skin could not regenerate hair follicles. In fact, investigators generally believe that mammals had essentially no true regenerative qualities.

In this study, researchers found that wound healing in a mouse model created an “embryonic window” of opportunity. Inactive embryonic molecular pathways were awakened, sending stem cells to the area of injury. The regenerated hair follicles unexpectedly originated from non-hair-follicle stem cells.

Researchers found they could make skin regenerate instead of just repair by introducing more wnt proteins to the wound which allowed them to take advantage of the embryonic genes to promote hair-follicle growth. They also found that they could stop the production of hair follicles in healed skin by blocking wnt proteins.

“We’ve found that we can influence wound healing [and] allow the skin to heal in a way that has less scarring and includes all the normal structures of the skin, such as hair follicles and oil glands, rather than just a scar,” explains Cotsarelis.

Not only that, it was discovered that increased wnt signaling doubled the number of new hair follicles, suggesting hair-follicle regeneration can be manipulated which will lead to novel ways to treat hair loss and hair overgrowth.

These findings go beyond just a possible treatment for male and female pattern baldness. If researchers can effectively control hair growth, then they could potentially find cures for people with hair and scalp disorders, such as scarring alopecia where the skin scars, and hair overgrowth.

“Although these findings are promising, we advise hair loss sufferers not to put all their eggs in one basket and wait around for a solution like this to come about. Years of testing would be required before any such solution was available, and there is no guarantee that such a procedure would ever be possible for humans, whose genetics are far more complicated than mice,” says Leonora Doclis.

More information on the EFFECTIVE HAIR LOSS TREATMENTS.

(Images courtesy of e3000 and Nictalopen on flickr)

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“I highly recommend The Belgravia Centre.  I have had fantastic results and socially feel as though I have my confidence back again.”

Allison

Diagnosis: Female Pattern Hair Loss

Month 1                                          Month 31

For most of us, the thought of going bald is an unpleasant one but a reality we must consider. However when a child is experiencing hair loss and imminent baldness is on the cards, the unfair reality can run much deeper than mere looks and have a deep-seeded psychological impact for that child. In ground-breaking research a gene has been identified that is responsible for the rare Hypotrichosis simplex condition.

The international research team headed by scientists at the University of Bonn is the first to identify a receptor that plays a role in hair growth. They now hope their research findings will lead to new therapies that will work with various forms of hair loss.

“Although Hypotrichosis simplex is very uncommon, it may prove critical in our search for understanding of the mechanisms of hair growth,” project leader Dr. Regina Betz from Bonn’s Institute of Human Genetics said.

Hypotrichosis simplex is a rare form of hereditary hair loss that affects only 1 in 200,000 people. Occurring in men and women, the extent of scalp and body hair loss is variable. In the case of hypotrichosis simplex of the scalp, sufferers experience a progressive, gradual loss of scalp hair beginning in the first 10 years of life, leading to almost complete loss of scalp hair by their 30’s. A few sparse, fine, short hairs can remain in some individuals and the body hair, beard, eyebrows, underarm hair, teeth, and nails develop normally. Hypotrichosis in its generalised form will cause loss of body hair in addition to scalp hair loss. The hair loss is diffuse and usually begins in early childhood and progresses until adulthood. Symptoms include sparse, thin or short hair and reduced hair growth, but the hair shaft generally appears normal. Hypotrichosis from birth has also been reported.

Hypotrichosis clearly compromises the anagen (growth) phase of the hair cycle. At fault is a genetic defect that prevents certain receptors on the surface of hair follicle cells from being correctly formed. For the hair follicle to function normally, messengers must bind to these receptors, triggering a chain reaction in the cell interior. The fact that a receptor plays a specific role in hair growth was previously unknown to scientists.

“We can now search selectively for related substances that may be used in therapies for very different types of hair loss,” Ivar von Kügelgen of from Bonn’s Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology said.

Presently there is no cure for Hypotrichosis simplex. But, according to senior trichologist of the Belgravia Centre Leonora Doclis, you can treat the condition by helping the existing hair.

“At this stage you cannot add follicles but you can work with what you’ve got and strengthen and coarsen the existing hair,” she said.

The Belgravia Centre does not recommend hair loss treatments to children under the age of 16 but they do offer effective non-surgical hair replacement options to people of any age.

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