Wisdom of Ancient Medical Texts and Modern Hair Loss: Why a New Approach is Needed

As a practitioner of Korean medicine, I deeply respect the wisdom of ancient medical texts accumulated over hundreds and thousands of years, and I constantly explore them to find clues for healing. However, at the same time, I believe we must ask one crucial question: "If we apply the hair loss prescriptions and medicinal herbs recorded in the great medical texts of the past directly to patients today, can we truly expect the same results?"

I believe we must cautiously raise a 'question mark' here. True progress is possible only when we look directly at the changes of the times and critically inherit traditions rather than following them blindly.

1. Patients of the Past and Present are Different

When imagining a 'hair loss patient' from ancient texts, who would they have been? People who sought medical help for hair loss centuries ago were likely quite different from today's 20- and 30-somethings. I suspect they were most likely from the upper class—middle-aged or older individuals with significant social and economic status.

In fact, it has only been about 20 to 30 years since hair loss began to be actively recognized as a 'treatable disease.' The further back we go, the more likely it is that hair loss was viewed as a natural phenomenon of aging rather than a sickness. The cases recorded in ancient texts were likely either cosmetic concerns of a very wealthy few, or specific medical theories and experiences regarding severe conditions like impetiginous folliculitis or alopecia areata occurring among the nobility.

But what is the reality now? It is not uncommon for hair loss to begin in one's teens, and there are as many female patients suffering from hair loss as there are males. The age of onset, gender, and progression patterns have completely changed from the past.

2. Environments of the Past and Present are Different

It is not just the patients who have changed. Our lifestyles, environments, food, and culture have all transformed beyond comparison. In the past, people lived according to the rhythms of nature and consumed diets close to organic. However, modern people are exposed to countless processed foods, instant meals, and chemicals. Every day, we battle modern 'enemies of health' that did not exist in the past, such as extreme academic and work stress, irregular sleep, and environmental hormones.

These changes in lifestyle have even altered our physical conditions and the patterns of disease. While nutritional deficiencies or infectious diseases were the main problems in the past, chronic imbalances such as excessive stress, inflammation, and metabolic syndrome have now become primary health issues. I believe that hair loss, too, is following this trend of modern illnesses.

3. Past Prescriptions are 'Reference Books,' Not 'Answer Keys'

In a situation where patient characteristics and the environmental causes of disease have shifted so drastically, it may be unreasonable to expect that empirical prescriptions or a few medicinal herbs that worked in the past can treat the complex hair loss of modern individuals.

Of course, the fundamental health theories of Korean medicine—which understand human physiology and identify the root causes of disease—transcend time and remain valid today. I believe the core principle that 'the state of the blood affects the hair' has not changed. However, the specific prescriptions and the use of medicinal herbs that implement that principle must be reinterpreted and developed to suit the current era.

The prescriptions of the past can be excellent 'reference books' that show us the way, but they cannot be 'answer keys' that fit every modern problem.

Conclusion: Toward Critical Inheritance and Continuous Innovation

Based on this critical awareness, I have consistently conducted experiments to scientifically verify whether the prescriptions and herbs used in ancient texts are still effective for people today. In that process, while some herbs still showed outstanding effects, others fell short of expectations or were even unsuitable for the constitutions of modern individuals.

Through these various verification and experimental processes, the prescriptions I use for patients today were born. Among them, some are traditional empirical formulas modified to suit modern characteristics, but more often, they are combinations discovered by identifying new medicinal herbs whose hair loss improvement effects have been proven through modern science, even if they were not used in traditional methods.

To understand tradition deeply but not follow it blindly; to constantly question, scientifically verify, and develop. This is the path of treatment I pursue. I will continue to serve as a bridge connecting past wisdom with modern science, never stopping my efforts to provide the most effective and safe treatments for today's patients.