You may have heard that wearing a baseball cap causes hair loss or even tight braids, a doctor in Rhode Island is tackling hair loss myths and offering a new non-surgical method to treat it.
"The baseball cap does not cause hair loss," Dr. Robert Leonard said. "Here we see the Red Sox playing and they take off their hat and some of them are bald and people say, yep, it's the cap that did it. It isn't. Genetics cause 90 percent of all hair loss."
There is something that does cause hair loss.
"There's a condition called traction alopecia -- the long term pulling of the hair follicle and it's most commonly seen in people of color who've had braiding over long term," said Leonard, who recommends anyone who wears their hair braided to only do so for a few weeks at a time.
If you've already lost your hair, there are some non-surgical solutions. The Capillus Laser Cap has long been used to help slow hair loss and in many cases, promote hair regrowth.
Now there's something even newer, called platelet-rich plasma injections or PRP injections. They have been used by orthopedists to repair cartilage, among other uses.
"You've heard of the vampire facelift where it can be injected in to the face," said Leonard. "Well now, we have a treatment for hair loss using platelet-rich plasma."
This is done using the patient’s own blood.
"We put the blood in to a centrifuge which is a spinner and it separates the blood cells--the red blood cells and the white blood cells -- from the plasma," explained Leonard.
The platelets are then put in to a syringe and injected in to the scalp. Results are not immediate.
"It's not tomorrow, that's for sure," said Leonard. "Anything to do with the hair cycle takes at least four months."
Platelet-rich plasma injections to treat hair loss is FDA cleared.
