I have always had a full head of wavy hair. Losing hair when hair-drying after a shower never bothered me until last November, when hair started falling out in clumps as I was shampooing. It did not stop falling out over the next few weeks, and often at the slightest touch, wet or dry. I began wearing my hair up. Panic descended upon me. This has never happened before.
I asked my husband to examine my scalp. He said that while I had a little dandruff, my scalp looked normal. I did not appear to be developing bald spots, fungus or any infection. In fact it appeared that I still had a lot of hair. My hairdresser said I was getting paranoid about my hair loss when I had my hair trimmed that week. Still I panicked.
I told my go-to medical aesthetics doctor, Dr Lam Bee Lan from Ageless Medical about my hair loss.
She asked me if I have had a change in my diet or activity level, or been through a stressful period. I shrugged and said I was travelling frequently between June and September that year but did not think of it as being particularly stressful.
“What was your schedule like?” she nudged.
“I was shuttling between Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok for work. In July and August I was in a different country practically every week. Often I had meetings or presentations scheduled back to back and sometimes within just hours of touchdown or takeoff. I caught a tummy bug, but was otherwise eating normally and exercising as much as my schedule would allow in hotel gyms.”
Dr Lam said, “That sounds like a stressful period to me.”
She added, “It sounds like you have telogen effluvium; when stress instigates hair follicles into a “resting” phase so that they don’t produce new hair strands. Over time, hair can fall out more easily, even if you’re just washing, combing or touching it. Hair fall of this nature usually occurs 100 days after a period of stress which can be caused by a sudden or drastic change in diet, intense exercise, and even surgery.”
Although Dr Lam assured me that my hair growth was on the rebound, I didn’t want to wait. I asked her if there were measures that could guard against hair fall. She then introduced me to the AnteAge Hair treatment which is available at Ageless Medi-Aesthetics, a medispa located just next to Ageless Medical Clinic.
The AnteAGE® MD Hair Treatment is a non-invasive procedure which involves applying the AnteAGE® MD Hair Growth Factor Solution or serum onto skin that has been prepared by a process called microneedling. Microneedling is a method of creating tiny perforations in the skin with a manual or powered device, causing controlled trauma to the skin, which triggers the body’s healing responses. Microneedling also prepares the scalp for deeper penetration of active ingredients such as cytokines and growth factors in the AnteAGE® Hair Growth Factor Solution; increasing the efficacy of product absorption.
I was told to wash my hair and scalp before coming for the treatment which did not require any numbing.
The Oxypeel part of the treatment felt like a breeze. Photo by Shah Rizal Baharudin
A therapist at Ageless Medi-Aesthetics cleansed and prepared my scalp with an oxygen-based therapy called Oxypeel. The contactless Oxypeel handpiece releases 100% pure oxygen and saline water to gently pressure-wash the skin, removing dead skin cells and other impurities that can build up on the scalp over time. It felt like a burst of cool air was run over my scalp.
It might look like I have a lot of hair, but I have had a drastic amount of hair fall last November due to stress. Photo by Shah Rizal Baharudin.
Then the microneedling process began. It was mostly comfortable except for the sensitive hairline area and on each side of my head. The therapist focused on the crown as that is where most people experience hair loss. The AnteAGE® MD Hair Growth Factor Solution was applied onto the scalp as it was being microneedled.
The Lutronic LED light was shone onto my head to help with speeding the healing process. Photo by Shah Rizal Baharudin
The Lutronic LED light was then put over my head for 20 minutes; this was mostly to help calm down any irritation as well as speed up the healing process of the area treated. I have had this light shone onto my skin after injectable treatments such as Rejuran which helped cut down on post-treatment downtime.
The whole process took about 1.5 hours including taking photos and registration.
I was told to undergo four more treatments spaced out one month apart between one treatment and the next, so was not expecting results to be immediate. In fact I was expecting hair fall to reduce gradually over a few months.
However I was amazed that just within the two weeks after the first treatment, my hair fall was reduced by a lot – 70 to 80 percent – if I must give a percentage. The results were maintained over the next few months that even my regular cleaner asked if I had been cleaning as she didn’t find much hair on my apartment floor or in the bathroom drain after I had my second treatment.
I would certainly recommend the AnteAGE® MD Hair Treatment to anyone who wants to reduce hair fall.
I have had three out of the recommended five treatments so far and will report on the treatment’s effect on my hair growth after the fifth treatment. Can’t wait!
Ageless Medi-Aesthetics is at 501 Orchard Rd, #04-10A Wheelock Place
Tel: 6734 4007