The unfortunate incident at the Oscars 2022 edition, involving Will Smith smacking comedian Chris Rock on stage, brought to light the sensitivities surrounding hair loss. Jada Pinkett Smitt suffers from Alopecia Areata, which is an autoimmune type of hair loss characterized by small to medium sized circular patches of complete hair loss, a condition that can affect both women and men. However, men are the ones who often find it difficult to discuss openly the hair loss problems they face, let alone seek help.
According to a study by NYU, “More than 80 percent of men experience significant hair loss during their lifetime.” Despite its prevalence, there’s a stigma surrounding hair loss that has led many to either hide their symptoms or shy away from seeking expert counsel.
In our society, men are not encouraged to place the same amount of value on hair care and maintenance as women; most men usually accept the fact that they are losing hair or are destined to be bald due as they age. Although there currently is no permanent cure for Alopecia, for those men suffering from hair loss or thinning due to other causes, there are a variety of natural, affordable, and painless solutions out there, such as hair transplants, that enable help men to regain a full, healthy head of hair.
Unfortunately, the societal stigma surrounding men taking the initiative to address their hair care has led many to not seek proper treatment, consequently leading to negative emotional impacts on their life.
The International Journal of Trichology, states "there is a considerable amount of negative psychosocial effects linked with male androgenetic alopecia such as decreased self-esteem, dissatisfaction with body image or appearance, self-consciousness, perception of aging, and often emotional stress."The value of having a healthy, robust head of hair is frequently overlooked, often diminished to nothing more than an attractive physical attribute.Therefore, the value and availability of treatment options are rarely brought to light.
While many will turn to non-surgical treatments, hair transplants are considered the best long-term option for permanent hair loss solutions. Unfortunately, many of the current hair transplant clinics out there charge unreasonably high prices, causing patients to seek financial assistance from third-party lenders that charge interest rates as high as 15%-25%, sometimes jeopardizing a patient's financial future. This example illustrates a larger market-wide trend in which profits are prioritized over patients, which in turn has created an industry culture around care focused on treating those with financial means, resulting in unequal access to procedures.
In 2017, two entrepreneurs sought to fill this need in the hair transplant market—they wanted to create a clinic where hair transplant candidates can receive transparent and personalized care.This led to the birth of Solve Clinics, a Chicago-based - award-winning skin restoration and hair transplant clinic. Founders Andrew Kashian and John Grieco created the clinic to transform the standard of pre-and post-op experience to one that prioritized the patient and through access to affordable and effective hair transplants imbued upon them with a new sense of confidence.
Speaking to NewsBreak, Andrew Kashian, CEO of Solve Clinic told us that in the U.S. prior to the establishment of Solve Clinics, “The hair transplant industry was filled with practices looking to profit off patients, leading many men to fly to Turkey for affordable procedures, where they would often sacrifice the quality of care. The current stigma around hair loss has also resulted in many men not seeking proper care due to feelings of shame or embarrassment.”
The entrepreneur says that a simple procedure such as a hair transplant can drastically improve quality of life.
“A full head of hair can instill in someone with a renewed sense of confidence and a positive outlook on the future. We built Solve Clinics with the goal of ensuring men across America have access to affordable, quality, and personalized hair transplant care.”
One of the primary ways Solve Clinics executes its mission of providing accessible hair transplants to men of all ages, is through their travel reimbursement program. For all out-of-state patients, Solve Clinics pays for the patients' round-trip airfare and hotel accommodation. (A great alternative to navigating international flights to Turkey) The patient is then only responsible for the cost of the procedure, which Solve understands can still be a large out-of-pocket expense for many. So, in an effort to meet the patient where they are, Solve Clinics is the only medical clinic in the country that offers pre-approved interest-free financing to all patients.
Hair loss and balding is an extremely common occurrences for men, although incidences (unfortunately), like those at the Oscars, are slowly drawing awareness to the topic. It is critical to be aware that there currently are affordable, permanent, and effective treatments available.
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