Can I prevent hair loss?

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I get so many headaches every month. It could be chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more.

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Botox, autobotulinum toxin A, prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. It's not for those who have 14 or fewer headache days a month. Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, and muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis or Lambert-Eton syndrome, and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects.

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Why wait? Ask your doctor. Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more.

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Joseph Chance (2:20)

Can I prevent hair loss?

Thanks for asking.

According to UK charity The Men's Health Forum, two-thirds of all men are affected by male patterned baldness in their lifetime. That won't be a surprise to anyone. But would you have guessed that an estimated 50% of women also experience noticeable hair loss according to the Cleveland Clinic? We actually have around 100,000 hair follicles on our heads, of which we lose between 50 and 100 every day, completely naturally. Hair loss isn't usually any cause for real concern on its own, but of course it can be caused by cancer treatment. Even if a person's health isn't affected by their hair loss, it can still be an upsetting experience. Some types of hair loss are temporary. This can happen when a person has an iron deficiency, is stressed, or loses weight suddenly due to a restrictive diet, for example. When it happens for those reasons, we talk about hair shedding or telogen effluvium to give it its scientific name. Isn't hair loss mostly hereditary? You're right, that's by far the leading cause in men. The scientific term for pattern baldness is androgenetic alopecia. In some cases, it starts very early, during puberty. Some men have a genetically predisposed sensitivity to androgen hormone dihydrotestosterone, which causes hair follicles to shrink over time. Typically, men either get a gradually receding hairline at the temples, also known as widow's peak, or start losing hair on the crown of their scalp. Sometimes it can be a combination of the two. Meanwhile, in women, it tends to be general thinning all across the scalp. While hair loss starts earlier on average in men, in women, it's very common after the menopause. It may be down to a drop in iron levels or female sex hormones like estrogen. Are there any ways of stopping it? Only two medications have been clinically proven to stop hair loss, and bear in mind they don't work for everyone. Even if they do work, they're only effective for as long as you keep taking them, and can be expensive as they're not covered on the NHS. The first is Monoxidil, which is available as a foam or lotion that you apply to the scalp twice per day. The second is Finasteride, which is taken in tablet form and is available on prescription only. Unlike Monoxidil, it's not recommended for women. What's more, there are some concerning possible side effects, which include sexual dysfunction and depression. What about hair transplants? Indeed, they have become more and more popular in recent years. Statistics from the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeries suggest that the market size grew by 64% from 2014 to 2019