Last updated: 11/24/2009

Cosmetic treatments for hair loss are defined as methods that change the appearance but do not affect the body, and can be reversed. Hair styling, including shaving the head completely, and the use of various hair-thickening styling products are all...

cosmetic treatments. So are scalp paints, dust and fiber products, hairpieces and wigs, and the wearing of hats, turbans, and scarves to conceal hair loss. Cosmetic treatments range from essentially ineffective to highly effective depending on the approach or procedure. Almost everyone with hair loss can benefit from cosmetic treatments. The major drawbacks are their impermanence, which brings the risk of discovery, and which requires periodic reapplications. Depending on the type of cosmetic treatment, there are varying degrees of periodic costs and time constraints as well.

The most effective of all hair restoration products are artificial hair appliances such as hairpieces and wigs, because they add the most hair and can be used by anybody with any hair loss condition. The hair used to construct these devices can be human or synthetic. For normal use, hairpieces are constructed with modest hair density so that they look natural.

Medical treatments use medications to change the condition of the body and affect the hair loss condition. Medications for treating hair loss may be in the form of pills, lotions, or may be injected. Some medications block or interfere with the hormones that trigger androgenetic alopecia, or the medical term for inherited hair loss. Others treat various disease conditions that include hair loss as a symptom. Preventative medications, such as Propecia and Rogaine have varying degrees of effectiveness, depending on each individual’s degree of hair loss and particular body chemistry, and generally take months for a change in appearance to be noticeable. In some cases, the effect of the medication ends shortly after the drugs are discontinued. Preventative medications also require continuous use for the benefits to continue. Medications for treating disease conditions also have varying degrees of effectiveness. A medicine that works very well with one person having a particular condition may have little effect on another person with the same condition.

Spironolactone is a prescription medication for women applied in lotion form to the scalp. It is prescribed for women who have a genetic predisposition to pattern hair loss and who have diminished female hormone levels resulting in the DHT-signaled hair loss. High estrogen oral contraceptive pills may be prescribed for women who have diminished estrogen levels and a genetic predisposition for hair loss. The estrogen in birth control pills interferes with the DHT message that is trying to tell the hair follicles to stop growing hairs. Birth control pills are a treatment and not a cure for hair loss, and the medication must be taken daily for the benefits to continue. Estrogen use is not appropriate for all women and should be used under the close supervision of a physician.

Corticosteroid hormone injections are a hair loss treatment that is often used for autoimmune causes of hair loss such as alopecia areata. Medications such as cortisone are injected directly into the patch of bald scalp to reduce the exaggerated immune response that results in white blood cells attacking the hair follicles. The effectiveness of this treatment varies, and in many cases the bald patches go away on their own, so it is difficult to determine when a particular steroid injection treatment is working or not.