Male Hair Loss

John Travolta has been pictured on holiday in Hawaii with a receding hairline, leaving at home the weave that many observers have been accustomed to seeing him wear in recent times.

The actor, who was celebrating his 57th birthday with his family, freely revealed his balding head, in contrast to the efforts used to conceal his hair loss in the past. Rumours of a hair transplant have abounded and Travolta has been seen sporting a mesh: a net-like system used in hair weaving procedures.

The Hawaii holiday snaps follow pictures of Travolta opening the Breitling Flagship store in New York with a full head of brown hair last month, while in January the actor had a styled full yet short crop.

The images of the Grease star’s male pattern baldness – also known as Androgenic Alopecia – show the condition that is most regularly treated by the Belgravia Centre’s hair loss specialists.

Male hair loss is stabilised and reduced through a series of comprehensive treatment options, fine-tuned for each hair loss sufferer and with close monitoring and after-care services.

View our hair loss success stories of people using specially tailored combinations of these treatments, with added hair growth boosters.

“I would just like to say that The Belgravia Centre has really helped me over the past 9 months of treatment.  The results have been very impressive in the amount of time I have been using.  Obviously the desired thickness is still not there, but you are unable to notice now where I was gradually going patchy.  I know in time I will regain full thickness again with this course of treatment that I am using.  Trinity and all the staff at Belgravia are very helpful and have helped to regain a lot of confidence with taking the initial decision to go ahead with the treatment.  I would definitely recommend that if you are currently thinking about it… then do it!  ”

“I have been delighted with the results in such a short period.  I would genuinely recommend others to try it this and hope they have same success.”

A Belgravia Centre Patient, by email.

Diagnosis:  Male Pattern Hair Loss

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“Its been 6 months since I started the treatment and I have to admit before I came to The Belgravia Centre, I was losing hope and my hair, but 6 months on I am gaining my hair, not hope but reality.  I have my hair once again thanks to Belgravia Centre.”

Osman Fedai

Diagnosis:  Male Pattern Hair Loss

“I had a great first treatment.  Very soothing and relaxing!!  Thanks Alicia – you did a great job!  Can’t wait for my hair to grow back!”

“Cisca was very good – professional and courteous.  Gayzen was very good – professional, courteous and very friendly and explained the treatment properly.  I also found the reception staff to be very good and I particularly liked the speed and efficiency and the fact that everyone just got round to discussing the problem/solution straight away, especially the lady doing the treatment I had yesterday which was excellent – instead of spending time on other non-relevant areas.  Overall, very satisfied and I cannot see any improvements you need to make.  I hope I am happy with my hair growth too.”

“Leonora was very professional, open and honest and I found Cherie to be very helpful, warm and friendly.  I was greeted promptly by reception even though I changed my appointment to 30 minutes earlier. Very flexible and friendly.  I thought overall the staff were very friendly, professional and helpful.”

“I started my treatment 3 months ago and came in today for a check up and I was speechless.  The regrowth was so much and impressive.  A big thank you and see you again in 3 months time.”

John Kelly

Diagnosis:  Male Pattern Hair Loss

For people diagnosed with cancer, the damage and distress caused by the condition can be further compounded by the hair loss they experience during and after chemotherapy treatment. While the drugs used during chemotherapy are often effective in destroying the cancerous cells, they also attack healthy cells, including the hair follicles. This, of course, can lead to partial or complete hair loss, as well as a range of other side effects.

Now a team of researchers at the University of Arizona are attempting to find a way to use such drugs to cure the cancer but leave the healthy cells intact, thereby avoiding the chemotherapy hair loss suffered by cancer patients.

Marek Romanowski, who is a PhD associate professor of biomedical engineering at the university, is leading a team of graduate students in research which they believe could put an end to these side effects.

Their research is focusing on changing the way in which the chemotherapy drugs are delivered to the body. At present, one of the main methods used to disperse the drugs to cancerous cells is by utilising liposomes- tiny microscopic capsules which are made of organic compounds which already exist within the body. Because the body does not recognise the drugs contained within as a threat, these capsules give the drugs the time they need to act upon the cancerous cells.

Unfortunately when these lipid compounds eventually dissolve, they release their toxic payload haphazardly throughout the body. When healthy hair follicles are attacked, damaged and destroyed by the drugs, the result is hair loss.

Infra-red activated capsules

What professor Romanowski and his team are trying to do is to make the delivery of the chemotherapy drugs more precise, so that only the cancerous cells are destroyed, while healthy cells throughout the body remain unaffected by the treatment.

Their plan is to coat the liposome capsules with a thin coating of gold, which will then be targeted with pulses of infrared light. Because gold heats up when bombarded with infrared light, this causes the capsule to break apart and release its contents. What this means is that doctors could use an infrared light beam, which is able to penetrate harmlessly through skin, to ‘activate’ the chemotherapy drugs in the specific areas where cancerous tumours are present, thereby preventing the drugs from dispersing haphazardly throughout the body.

Other research in the prevention of chemotherapy hair loss

At the end of last year we reported on similar hair loss research being carried out by a team of Irish scientists at the University of Cork. Their approach relies on damaging the outer membrane of cancerous cells so that the chemotherapy drugs can penetrate tumours more quickly and effectively. Because this would result in a smaller quantity of the drugs being used, it is hoped that harmful side effects such as hair loss could be reduced and even prevented during such treatments.

Name: Mark

Question: Do you offer Alpecin shampoo in your treatment regimes? If not, why?

Answer: Alpecin is a shampoo, which would be heavily diluted with water when applied to the scalp (in the shower or bath). It is unlikely that any of the product would be absorbed into the scalp to stimulate the hair follicles.

Aside from this fact, there is currently no significant evidence that caffeine has prevention properties for hair loss in humans. In previous lab tests, caffiene was seen to block DHT (the hormone that causes genetic hair loss) when applied directly to individual hair follicles, but these conditions are very different to those when washing your hair with a shampoo.

There are however treatments that are proven to prevent and reverse hair loss. Find out about them here.

More information can be found on an earlier Alpecin story.

Laboratory tests on a chemical compound called astressin-B has shown ‘astounding’ results for hair regrowth, with the effects lasting up to four months after just one jab a day for five days.

The research, published in the web-based publication PloS One, revealed that the discovery was unearthed “entirely by accident.”

Researchers from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) were studying mice with gut problems that were genetically altered to overproduce the stress hormone corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF). The chemical compound astressin-B – thought to obstruct CRF – was then injected into the balding mice.

“Our findings show that a short-duration treatment with this compound causes an astounding long-term hair regrowth in chronically stressed mutant mice,” said Dr Million Mulugeta of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

“This molecule also keeps the hair colour (and) prevents the hair from turning grey,” he told the AFP news agency.

”This could open new avenues to treat hair loss in humans,” Dr Mulugeta added.

Afterwards, the researchers treated the mice with minoxidil alone. The study reported that this procedure “resulted in mild hair growth, as it does in humans. This suggests that astressin-B could also translate for use in human hair growth.”

Minoxidil – one of only two current treatments medically proven for hair loss prevention, was similarly discovered by accident. It was observed that people using minoxidil as a treatment for high blood pressure were growing unusual amounts of excess hair.

“it is difficult to tell whether this treatment would work for humans”, said Leonora Doclis of The Belgravia Centre, “but if it had a similar effect on genetic hair loss then the future could be very promising for hair loss sufferers. The current treatments are very effective but to be able to completely reverse total baldness would be revolutionary”.

The potential use of astressin-B in human hair loss cases was boosted by the research team’s assertion that no sign of toxicity appeared after extensive tests on the mice. However, human hair loss treatments with astressin-B – if they even come about– may take around five to 10 years to transpire and whether the treatment will be equally as effective for humans, whilst ensuring safety, is still unknown.

The next 10 years could prove to be revolutionary for hair loss sufferers, with the possibility of a number of new treatments on the horizon, including treatment related to stem cells and the new discovery of astressin-B. In the mean-time, there are two clinically proven treatments that are highly effective in preventing hair loss and regrowing hair for those with moderate to severe thinning hair. View before/after hair growth photos and feedback from people using specially tailored combinations of these treatments, with added hair growth boosters.

“Great service, & more importantly great results.  Can’t recommend enough!”

A Belgravia Centre Patient

Diagnosis:  Male Pattern Hair Loss