Treatment for hair loss depends on the cause. It also depends on your feelings. You may decide that you need treatment, or you may not be worried about thinning hair or baldness. The choice is up to you.

How well treatment works depends on your expectations and what caused the hair loss. Treatment for hair loss caused by an illness, medicine, or damage to the hair usually works better than treatment for inherited hair loss.

Treatment for hair loss may help you feel better about how you look. But some medicines may have harmful side effects. And surgery may carry certain risks.

When you are deciding about treatment, think about these questions:

• Which treatment is most likely to work?
• How long will it take?
• Will it last?
• What are the side effects and other risks?
• How much will it cost? And will insurance cover it?

Treatment for inherited hair loss

When your hair loss is inherited, your hair won't grow back naturally. Treatment can help some hair grow back and prevent more from falling out, but you probably won't get all your hair back. And treatment doesn't work for everyone.

The goal of treatment is to prevent hair loss, promote hair growth, and cover bald areas of the scalp.

Some people choose to treat hair loss with:

• Medicines, such as minoxidil (Rogaine) and finasteride (Propecia). Minoxidil is available without a prescription. It's sprayed on or rubbed into the scalp twice a day. Finasteride is available by prescription. You take it once a day in pill form.
• Surgery. The types of surgery to treat hair loss include hair transplants and procedures such as scalp reduction and scalp flaps.

Others choose to wear hairpieces, like wigs or toupees. Finding different ways of styling your hair, like dyeing or combing, also can help.

Women with inherited hair loss who want to take birth control pills should use a type of pill that doesn't add to hair loss, such as a norgestimate or desogestrel.

Treatment for other causes of hair loss

If a disease, medicine, or stress is the cause of hair loss, then treating the disease, changing medicines, or managing stress may stop the hair loss. And your hair is likely to grow back. For example, if an underactive thyroid is causing the problem, taking thyroid medicine may help. And most hair lost during chemotherapy will grow back after the treatment ends.

If alopecia areata is the cause of hair loss, medicines such as corticosteroids can be used to treat it. But because hair often grows back within a year, you may decide not to have treatment. Understanding the come-and-go nature of hair loss with this condition can help you make the best treatment decision. Children and teens may need counseling to help them adjust to the hair loss.