Perspectives for usage of trichology services by senior persons

The aim of the article is to present the perspectives of using trichology services by older people in the context of ongoing economic, social and cultural changes in Poland, as well as due to changes in the incidence of scalp diseases (including various types of baldness, inflammation and scalp mycosis, psoriasis). A descriptive method was used, based on the use of materials containing secondary data, literature analysis in the field of phenomena that may determine the level of use of trichology services by older people. The method was aimed at identifying and assessing the importance of individual factors that may shape the prospects for using trichology services by older people. The literature review allows to notice that the entity defined as “older people” is based on various age classification criteria, ranging from “over 50 years of age” to “over 65 years of age.” The analyzes conducted show that the following factors influence the prospects for using trichology services in the senior group: economic, social, cultural, health and psychological (awareness, behavioral). As the share of older people in the Polish population increases, similarly to the situation in developed countries, it can be assumed that in Poland these people will be more interested in using the services of trichological offices and clinics. Additional factors that may enhance this effect may include the dynamics of the epidemiology of scalp diseases as well as socio-economic and cultural phenomena. One of these phenomena is the increasing interest of older people in taking care of their health and body (physical and mental well-being), as well as the related growing participation of older people in services bordering the private medical sector and the beauty industry. The analysis of available secondary sources on the epidemiology of scalp diseases shows that there are positive prospects for an increase in the frequency of using the services of trichological offices and clinics by older people. The factors that will determine various scenarios of using these services may include level of income obtained, household disposable income, level of health awareness and lifestyle. This may prompt further analysis of the possible phenomenon in relation to older people in the health aspect (scalp diseases).