How to know if a Hair Loss Treatment Works?

by Kevin Rands | May 15, 2016 9:15 pm

Dr. Richard Lee

Dr. Lee obtained his degree in medicine from the University of Pittsburgh, and has founded and operated one of the few private medical practices devoted entirely to the research and treatment of hair loss.. “Regrowth” was incorporated in 1987.
Dr. Lee provides consultation services to hair loss sufferers, and has a line of custom minoxidil and topical spironolactone solutions which are widely used by our members here at HairlossTalk.com. Dr. Lee is a respected member of the HairlossTalk Community, and one of the few physicians truly educated on the causes and treatments of hair loss.

“Only Available Online”

Is there a ‘bricks and mortar’ business site? The development and production of products to treat MPB require a physical space for such activities. If the manufacturer does not give you a street address, it should raise suspicions as to the validity of the business. There should also be a way to contact the business by phone or email.

Unrealistic Claims

Although the progression of MPB can have some periods of rapid acceleration in some patients, the process is very slow and begins at puberty. Consequently, reversing MPB is also a very slow process. Products, which claim that you will see results within a few weeks, are simply fraudulent. Patients have claimed that as soon as they used a certain product, their shedding stopped. That may well be true, but the end of the excessive shedding had nothing to do with the use of the product. The shedding stopped because ~100 days ago (the length of the telogen phase), fewer scalp hairs shifted into telogen.

Money Back Guarantee a Guarantee?

Does a ‘money back guarantee’ make the product more credible? Any marketing specialist will tell you that less than 1/3 of consumers will ever demand their money back, regardless how egregious the product might have been. In medicine (as in life), there are no guarantees. Your surgeon can never guarantee any specific result. Your internist can never guarantee the result of any particular medication. So, I always feel uneasy with money-back guarantees on ‘medical’ products. Likewise, I question the validity of ‘before and after’ pictures. They may very well be valid, but with the present technology of image manipulation, any image can be presented as visual reality. Even without digital manipulation, the sequence can be reversed.

Always Evaluate Efficacy and Safety

Although we don’t yet have a cure for MPB, it’s exciting that many products are available for the treatment of MPB. And current research studies suggest there may be a real cure, real soon. Meanwhile, the bottom line in regards to evaluating a product for the treatment of MPB is to decide efficacy and safety. It must have both.

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