August Is National Hair Loss Month

There is a month for everything! August is National Hair Loss Awareness Month.

The American Academy of Dermatology states that this annual event is designed to increase public awareness about hair loss, the importance of early detection, and available treatment options.

Hereditary hair loss, the most common form of hair loss, affects nearly 50 million men and 30 million women in the United States according to the National Hair Journal.

There has always been a search for a cure. Ancient remedies for baldness included dogs' paws, asses' hooves, urine, burned prickles of a hedgehog immersed in oil, boiling snakes alive, chicken dung and herbal concoctions.

Centuries later, "blistering" of the scalp with acids, onion and honey massages, ground snail and horse leech potions, vacuum cap suction, electrodes, scalp popping and assorted other tortures.

Modern times brought us vitamins, hormone injections and more elixirs and creams than hairs on the average head. Men have been willing to be gulled, deceived and deluded since the advent of society.

American men spend 200 million dollars annually trying to combat the loss of the foremost symbol of strength and vigor. Celebrities and politicians have fallen under the spell of the magic cure.

Products with names like Hair Again, Mo-Hair, New Generation, Growth Plus and Thrive have proliferated. America is awash with growth potions, prompting the FDA to remark, "it is a lot of stuff that defies analysis."

Thank goodness the medical professionals have stepped in to stem the tide of trickery. Beyond the familiar body-boosting hair care lines, there are medical solutions with clinically proven results including topical and oral medications and surgical hair transplantation.

Ken Washenik, M.D., Ph.D., Medical Director of Bosley and faculty member of the New York University School of medicine, one of the world's most recognized research scientists in the field of dermatology and hair restoration, recognizes that "we are embarking on a new era in the treatment and prevention of hair loss, including hair multiplication in the lab.

The hair care industry must realize the need to look at the problem as a medical as well as aesthetic problem. While hair loss is not life-threatening, it is a `dis-ease,' a life-affecting condition that causes discomfort and interrupts one's quality of life.

Hair transplantation surgery is a good option for those who are unable to cope psychologically with hair loss."