JEDDAH, 5 April 2006 — Hair loss among women is more common than people realize, according to an international hair and skincare expert.
“About 60 percent of the patients I see are women with diffused hair loss — a general thinning of the hair — and usually they are women in their thirties or forties and sometimes older,” said Dr. John Gray to Arab News.
Gray was one of the keynote speakers at the 10th annual Saudi Society of Dermatology and Dermatological Surgery International conference held in Jeddah recently.
The most common type of hair loss is an inherited pattern of loss. There is only one medical treatment for that — Minoxidil or Rogaine, lotions applied to the head.
Gray, however, emphasized that when treating a woman, it is not guaranteed that she will regain her hair. He said that if hair loss is inherited, it is not avoidable, but if a woman thinks that her hair is starting to thin it’s important to see a doctor at the earliest because it is easier to prevent the loss than to get it back.
Hair transplantation is not common among women, according to Gray, because women have a diffused loss while men have a specific area of hair loss. Colorings and hair chemicals affect the health of the hair but they don’t stop the hair from growing or cause balding, said Gray. However, they can damage the hair particularly when not used properly.
“It’s important that when coloring, bleaching or perming you use intensive conditioning everyday,” he said, adding that modern hair products are remarkable for protecting hair from further damage and the claims made by these products about improving the hair are real and not just marketing gimmicks.
Gray said exhaustive scientific studies have been conducted measuring the effects of the ingredients in the conditioning products on elasticity, smoothness and shining of the hair.
He described rumors that shampoos and other products might cause cancer as completely false.
Going down the list of the ingredients in a shampoo, Gray explained that they are not harmful at all. It is counterfeit shampoos and beauty products as well as home-made products that people should be concerned about because they have not been tested. The customer does not actually know what is in the bottle, how the ingredients react together and how they affect the hair and skin, he said.
This year’s conference attracted experts from Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Middle East and addressed many key aspects of the management and treatment of dermatological problems. The conference included 20 workshops dealing with the more practical issues of dermatology and cosmetic dermatology. The topics discussed ranged from use of laser and fillers to Botox treatment and skin tightening, according to the conference organizer, Dr. Ali Al-Raddadi.
The delegates also discussed the management of problems such as hair loss, pediatric dermatology, psoriasis, atopic eczema and other complaints.
“Skin diseases are all the same in any region but we might have some different aspect from a cosmetological or surgical point of view because of the culture here and the exposure to sun. Maybe we have more eczema especially in children because of the weather, use of air-conditioners and carpets used on the floor,” said Al-Raddadi.
He said that developments in medical and cosmetic skin care help treat scars, acne, coloration and disfiguration. Improvements in skin appearance are achieved through laser, exfoliation, phototherapy, and heat and crystal treatment.
“In all these fields, now there are more accurate and better results as a result of advanced equipment and the doctors gaining more experience,” Gray said.
He said women should see doctors and avoid beauty centers that claim to treat skin and hair problems through laser or phototherapy because their improper application might be harmful and even cause cancer.
