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Cryotherapy

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432px-Cryogun

Cryotherapy bottle, like the one used by my doctor. (Photo: Warfieldian)

The following Thursday after the first visit with my dermatologist, Dr. Silvia, I went back to her for my first cryotherapy. It is and odd concept, at least for me. She puts liquid nitrogen in an aerosol device, while pouring it you can see something like a white gas coming out of the containers and if you stand by it you can feel the very cold sensation that such gas gives to your feet and legs. Once the liquid nitrogen is in the can, the doctor sprayed it over my scalp for about 2 or 3 minutes, moving my hair around and making sure that the whole head had been spray with the freezing gas.

The sensation went from refreshing, to good, then cold and, finally, almost painfully freezing. It is really cold, like when you leave an ice over your skin for a long time. I was just hoping that the rest of my hair wouldn’t freeze up and fall down as a result. It didn’t.

The purpose of this therapy, my doctor explained, is to stimulate the follicle. With Alopecia Areata the follicle usually stops producing hair for some time because of an autoimmune reaction (a mistake from you immune cells, basically), and the objective is to keep that follicle alive through stimulation so when the immune attack is over, the follicle would be ready to produce hair again.

I read some studies published on the Internet and they mentioned a success rate of the cryotherapy for Alopecia Areata, they were of less than 50%. So, I think it is worth it to keep it going. So far I have had 5 treatments and no hair has re-grown yet. There are many other things that I am doing in order to stop this disease and get my hair back. I am convinced something has to work.

First visit with dermatologist

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marigel 052

The piloactive lotion, the minoxidil and the cortisone cream… all part of my new rutine.

On Tuesday March 19 I met with my new dermatologist, Dr. Silvia Garcia. This was my first appointment with this very nice woman.

“What brings you here?” she asked, “I have Alopecia Areata,” I said. She examined the spots carefully and then she carefully listened to what I had to say and how I discovered this and how daily activities (such as washing my hair) were driving me crazy.

The main thing, she said, “is to forget about it.” This is pretty much impossible since every time I get out of the shower the largest spot is there, watching me from the bathroom mirror.

But what else I have to do? I asked.

She prescribed a series of tests to rule out any infection or thyroid problem, she also told me that every week I have to massage my head with olive oil and in a way that I feel the scalp skin moving from the skull, she also told me to use the Minoxidil (I happened to have the 2% solution, since I bought it a year ago thinking that my hair was thinning and never used it) and she also prescribed a cortisone cream every night applied directly over the bald spots.

She also told me to use something called Piloactive Placenta Lotion which I have to put over my bald spots every other day. I will do some more research about this lotion for a further entry, but apparently it was invented in Cuba and it is only sold in this island.

On top of that, Dr. Garcia will also give me a weekly cryotherapy. She explained this is a therapy with a spray made out of liquid nitrogen, and I will feel a very cold sensation in my head.

All these, she said, is in order to stimulate the follicles which are not dead but just dormant. The hair most likely will grow back, but also most likely it wont be over night. It may take many months she said… and that is the real challenge for me: patience!