Effects of Photobiomodulation Therapy for Androgenic Alopecia: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

March 2020 in “ Journal of Laser Applications ”

Xianfu Meng, Fang Xie, Wenjuan Wang, Rong Wang, Biwen Lin, Zi-Gang Zhao, Tian Hao, Xiaoning Zhang, Chang-Jiu Li

photobiomodulation therapy androgenic alopecia hair density hair growth sham device noninvasive treatment PBMT

TLDR Photobiomodulation therapy significantly increases hair density and growth for androgenic alopecia, but more research is needed to confirm safety.

Three years ago, a meta-analysis of nine randomized controlled trials was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) on androgenic alopecia. The study found that PBMT significantly increased hair density by 18.56/cm² and hair growth by 42.43% compared to a sham device. Despite these promising results, the study acknowledged potential limitations such as substantial heterogeneity among the included studies, small sample sizes in some studies, and lack of data on treatment-related adverse events. The authors concluded that PBMT appears to be a promising noninvasive treatment for androgenic alopecia, but more large-scale trials are needed to confirm these findings and investigate the safety of PBMT.

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