Low level laser therapy is a safe form of light/heat treatment under investigation for a variety of health indications. It is being used to treat the genetic forms of hair loss common in men and women, androgenetic alopecia or pattern balding.
Low level laser therapy is also called red light therapy, cold laser, soft laser, bio-stimulation and photobiomodulation.
Laser therapy used for hair loss treatment depends on devices that emit a light that can penetrate the scalp. Excimer (308 nm), helium-neon (632.8 nm), and fractional erbium-glass (1550 nm) lasers have been used. Low level laser therapy (LLLT) uses devices with diodes that emit red light (wavelength 630-670 nanometers)
Low level laser therapy is intended for men and women with thinning hair or pattern baldness caused by a hereditary condition.
Physicians use a system known as the Norwood-Hamilton Classification (men) and the Ludwig-Savin Scale(women) to describe the degree of hair loss. Low level laser therapy is intended for promotion of hairgrowth in males who have Norwood Hamilton Classifications of IIa to V and in females who have Ludwig (Savin) I-4, II-1, II-2, or frontal patterns of hair loss and have Fitzpatrick skin phototypes I to IV.