Introduction
Pattern hair loss, also known as androgenetic alopecia, is the most common type of hair loss. Pattern hair loss is a very stressful, embarrassing and frustrating condition that makes your daily life inconvenient and leads to diminished quality of life. Individuals suffering from pattern hair loss often report low self-esteem and loss of self-confidence. Medicine for pattern hair loss needs frequent and indefinite use and has limited effectiveness. Surgical options are restricted to patients because of the high cost and requirement of donor hair follicles.
Cold laser therapy, or low-level laser therapy (LLLT), is regarded as one of the most popular, natural and non-invasive treatments without side effects. Nowadays, cold laser therapy has emerged as a novel therapy to treat pattern hair loss. In this blog, we will introduce you to a literature review aimed at examining the safety and efficacy of cold laser therapy for male and female pattern hair loss.
Method
Researchers conducted a broad literature search within the PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane Trials databases to identify original articles that evaluate cold laser therapy for pattern hair loss.
Articles were recognized as appropriate when they fulfill the following conditions at the same time:
- include human subjects
- use a cold laser therapy device with a wavelength between 600 and 1,100 nm
- have a control group
- use an objective measure for hair regrowth
- involve a 16-week or greater clinical trial
Result
Ten randomized controlled trials were included, of which 8 compared cold laser therapy to sham devices and 1 to no treatment. The subjects enrolled in these studies varied, and there are 3 studies evaluating only women. All sham-device-controlled studies demonstrated a statistically significant increase in hair diameter or density after cold laser treatment.
Discussion
Based on the literature review, cold laser therapy appears to be effective for treating pattern hair loss in both men and women. These laser devices are very safe, with only minor adverse effects reported. Even if available cold laser therapy devices on the market are not exactly comparable to those used in these studies, they also have the potential to produce similar results.
Reference
Egger A, Resnik SR, Aickara D, Maranda E, Kaiser M, Wikramanayake TC, Jimenez JJ. Examining the Safety and Efficacy of Low-Level Laser Therapy for Male and Female Pattern Hair Loss: A Review of the Literature. Skin Appendage Disord. 2020 Sep;6(5):259-267.
