Balding treatments: Which ones work?

By the time they turn 50, half of men and a quarter of women are affected by hair loss. When it kicks off, and how quickly it progresses, will have been decided before you were born. But there are options for those not ready to embrace what genetics has dealt.

We’ve spoken to two dermatologists for their views on hair loss treatments available in New Zealand.

What the experts say

Dr Amanda Oakley is a dermatologist at Waikato Hospital and professor at the University of Auckland. She says hair loss causes some people a lot of distress.

“They have been the target of marketing cures for baldness for millennia.”

The key things to remember are that you can’t cure hair loss that’s related to your genes, Dr Oakley said. But there are ways to stop hair from falling out and to regrow it – if treatment is started as soon as hair starts thinning. However, it has to be continued lifelong or balding will recur in just a few months.

Dr Bruce Taylor is a Wellington dermatologist with a special interest in hair loss. People who come to him for help with hair loss have usually been to a hair loss clinic first.

“They haven’t had good results despite the various treatments,” Dr Taylor said. However, he believes hair loss clinics have their place as there are so many people seeking help for hair loss that dermatologists can’t help them all. But he cautions against giving much attention to the before and after photos. “If it’s taken from the right angle or combed the right way, we can do anything,” he said.

These are their thoughts on the options available.