If you are a man, chances are very good that you will encounter hair loss.
An estimated 85% of men (vs. only about one-third of women) will experience brushes with baldness, which is why hair-loss salons and clinics are such durable businesses.
Some guys are content to let nature take its course, or believe treatments are futile.
“I’m tempted to go [to a hair-loss clinic] sometimes,” says local retiree Pat Hagan. “But then I think, if it really worked, wouldn’t there be a stampede of bald fellers lined up?”
Meanwhile, others look for ways to stem or reverse their receding hairlines or their spreading bald spots using available treatments that demonstrably do work for some.
Four Bridges Dermatology and Cosmetics on Riverfront Parkway has become a hot spot for treating baldness. In addition to the normal topical and oral med treatments, the dermatology office offers an innovative hair-growth technique called platelet-rich plasma, or PRP.
“That’s a really cool newer therapy,” says Dr. Emily Delaney, a board-certified dermatologist at Four Bridges. “You come to the office, and we draw your blood. Then we extract the plasma, which contains platelets and growth factors — sort of all the good nutrients.”
Next, a series of plaza injections, spaced a month apart, are done in areas where hair is thinning, Delaney says. Think of it as fertilizer for your scalp. The treatment has different success rates with different people and is often used in tandem with oral medications and topical creams.
Delaney explains that there are different types of hair loss. With men, the most common is called “male-pattern baldness,” which is linked to hormonal changes and heredity. But there is another form of hair loss linked to stress, and a third that is a known after-effect of COVID and rapid weight loss related to GLP-1 diabetes drugs. Still another hair-loss trigger is inflammation.
Stress-induced hair loss is one of the easiest to reverse, Dr. Delaney says.
“Stress-induced hair loss can seem very scary, but it’s not a scarring type of hair loss,” she says. “The hair falls out, but it can grow right back. When you remove that trigger, you can fully regrow your hair.”
Some treatments work best for specific types of hair loss, and others tend to work more or less universally. Still, even men who get relatively good results will typically not have all their hair restored.
“We are never going to get you where you were when you were 15 years old,” Delaney says.
While the blood treatments can cost $1,000 or more (total), men can experiment with creams (like Rogaine) and oral meds on more modest budgets — say, a few hundred dollars. All treatments begin with a consultation that involves a deep dive into medical history and any health issues that could be stunting hair growth.
“Hair is very important to a person’s image of themselves, how they are projecting to their world,” Dr. Delaney says. “You have some people who don’t care. If it’s interfering with your life and how you feel about yourself, then sure, [give treatments a try].”
Find Four Bridges Dermatology and Cosmetics at 4bridgesderm.com.
Other hair-loss treatments in the area include:
Center for Facial Rejuvenation: 7268 Jarnigan Rd., chattanoogaface.com. A med-spa and wellness center that offers micro-needling treatments, exosomes with growth factors and prescription hair serums.
A Better You Hair Studio: 3905 Webb Road off Highway 58, abetteryouhairstudio.com. A non-surgical studio that uses hair extensions and scalp treatments to restore fullness and volume to thinning hair.
