Hair growth / androgenetic alopecia

Low-level laser device multicenter sham-controlled trial for male and female pattern hair loss

Jimenez JJ, Wikramanayake TC, Bergfeld W, et al. American Journal of Clinical Dermatology. 2014.

Source

A multicenter randomized, sham-device-controlled, double-blind trial found low-level laser treatment may be effective for pattern hair loss in men and women.

Evidence grade

moderate

Effect direction

positive

Panel relevance

not-panel-replicable

Key findings

  • The PubMed abstract concludes that low-level laser treatment may be an effective option for male and female pattern hair loss.
  • This is one of the central sham-controlled RCTs behind the scalp-device evidence base.
  • The device-specific protocol is more relevant to hair-growth caps/combs than panels.

Protocol details

WavelengthsNot reported nm
IrradianceNot reported mW/cm2
FluenceNot reported J/cm2
Session timeNot reported minutes
FrequencyNot reported
DurationNot reported
Treatment areaScalp
Device typeLow-level laser hair-growth device

Caveats

  • Full protocol parameters should be extracted before making dose recommendations.
  • Pattern hair loss response differs from generalized claims about thicker hair.