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Laser on Hair Regrowth

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Lasers, Lights and Other Technologies

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Abstract

Alopecia is a common disorder affecting more than half of the population worldwide. There is an urgent need to investigate alternative treatment options, while there are still a few therapeutics options for different types of alopecia in the market. The photobiomodulation phenomenon followed by hair growth was first described in 1967 by Professor Endre Mester, an Hungarian physician, the pioneer of laser medicine. For decades, clinical studies have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy, mechanism of action, and risks of using Low-level laser therapy - LLLT (collimated or non-collimated) in different forms of hair loss as a further treatment option. This chapter will present the clinical studies conducted with LLLT on female pattern hair loss (FPHL), male pattern hair loss (MPHL), alopecia areata (AA), and chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA) investigated in several databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, Medline, Embase, and Cochrane. At the end of this chapter, the authors concluded that LLLT may be a promising treatment option for patients who do not respond to conventional treatments and who do not want to undergo hair transplantation. This technology appears to work better for some people than others. Factors predicting who will get the most benefit need to be determined. Larger, longer-term placebo-controlled studies are needed to confirm these findings and reinforce the efficacy of the LLLT in those patients, generating, therefore, more consistent protocols.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade Estadual de Medicina, Hospital de Base de São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

    João Roberto Antonio

  2. Faculdade de Medicina Estadual de São José do Rio Preto – FAMERP, São José do Rio Preto, SP, Brazil

    Carlos Roberto Antonio

  3. Instituto de Dermatologia Professor Rubem David Azulay do Hospital da Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Ana Lúcia Ferreira Coutinho

  4. Hospital de Base de São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

    Carlos Roberto Antonio

Authors
  1. João Roberto Antonio
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  2. Carlos Roberto Antonio
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  3. Ana Lúcia Ferreira Coutinho
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Correspondence to João Roberto Antonio .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Medicine – Dermatology, Fluminense Federal University, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Maria Claudia Almeida Issa

  2. Clínicas Hospital of São Paulo of the University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Bhertha Tamura

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Antonio, J.R., Antonio, C.R., Ferreira Coutinho, A.L. (2018). Laser on Hair Regrowth. In: Issa, M., Tamura, B. (eds) Lasers, Lights and Other Technologies. Clinical Approaches and Procedures in Cosmetic Dermatology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16799-2_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16799-2_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16798-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16799-2

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