FROM HIPPOCRATES TO HIGH-TECH SURGERY

For as long as people have been losing their hair, people have been offering would-be solutions to the problem. Hair loss invariably leaves the sufferer feeling demoralised and dejected - ideal prey for the over-zealous 'expert' offering a 'miracle cure'.

Potential remedies have been around for thousands of years. Around 4000 BC, an Egyptian document was written containing a "magic" formula for hair loss composed of sea crab bile, blood from the horn of a black cow, burned ass hoof, bitch vulva, and dog claws!

Hippocrates, the famous Greek physician and philosopher, prescribed a mixture of cumin, pigeon droppings, horseradish and beetroot or nettles as far back as 400 BC. Unbelievably, some of these ingredients find their way in alleged “cures” today! He was also the first to notice that eunuchs (men castrated before puberty), did not go bald.

Aristotle noted that eunuchs and women did not grow much body hair. The common link in both observations is the lack of the male hormone, Testosterone. There will be more on this later.

Julius Caesar suffered a badly receding hairline. Initially he tried to hide it by combing his hair forward, but as most men know, that only works for a short time. He then started wearing a wig, but soon enough became dissatisfied with it, so he pressured the senate to pass a law allowing him to wear his famous laurel wreath all the time.

In more modern times, various treatment myths appeared including rubbing curry paste on the bald patch or having it licked by a cow! Thankfully, technology has advanced in the intervening centuries and, whilst there are still plenty of alleged “treatments” on the market, new medicines and surgical techniques offer effective help for hair loss sufferers.