Dr. Robert Leonard Lectures about Women’s Hair Loss Treatments in Vienna, Austria

I was invited by the European Society of Hair Restoration Surgery to speak at its 13th Annual Congress in Vienna, Austria.  I presented a talk to an audience of doctors from all over the world about the Treatments of Hair Loss in Women.

I stressed several points to the attendees:

•    That female pattern hair loss affects more than 30 million in the United States
•    That the major cause of thinning hair in women is genetics—even if she is unaware of any other female family member who had it
•    Some, but very little, hair loss is due to medical causes (which need to be investigated and ruled out)
•    It’s normal for men to lose their hair (though they don’t at all like it), but it is often devastating for women to lose their hair.  Balding in women has been described as:  unfeminine, sickly, abnormal, unacceptable, et cetera
•    I stressed to my colleagues that it is imperative that we treat these patients with expertise, compassion, understanding, care, and right away because many of these women have already seen their family doctor or a dermatologist who may have written off their concern or told them that there was nothing that could be done or told that “not to worry about their thinning hair
•    I told them that it is important to properly diagnose them, carefully explain what the cause is and its prognosis (definitely will get worse if untreated), discuss the treatments, initiate treatment, and follow the patients on a long-term basis
•    Discuss and really explain the proper medical and non-medical treatments of this condition and carefully discuss hair transplantation as a possible treatment
•    Stress with these patients that they have to be very, very patient in waiting for these treatments even to begin to work as sell as to have realistic expectation as to what they will do for them

The presentation was very well received and I was asked by a few doctors for copies of my talk for them to refer to when they got back to their offices.

I also was asked to moderate a panel on Medical Treatments of Hair Loss for Men and Women where we discussed the benefits of minoxidil (Rogaine Foam), finasteride (Propecia), Low Level Laser Therapy, Hair Restoration Surgery.

Additionally, I was invited to be part of a panel discussing Complications in Hair Restoration Surgery.  The panelists fielded questions from the audience about their opinions on complications that have occurred in their practices.

Vienna is an absolutely beautiful clean city with buildings from the Imperial Times that are stunning.  There are parks, squares, monuments, outdoor food markets, efficient public transportation, and great food throughout this walking city.  The people have been nothing but very friendly.  If you have the opportunity to visit some day, I strongly suggest you do!

Doc