Editorial policy

Editorial policy, sourcing and AI use

This page explains how Balds articles are made, what rules they follow, and what we do when we get something wrong.

How articles are written

Balds articles are drafted with AI assistance. We say so on every article and in this policy, because readers deserve to know. Nobody at Balds is a doctor, dermatologist or other clinician, and no article claims to have been written or reviewed by one.

Drafting is only the first step. Each article is written from a library of primary medical sources, and must pass a set of automated checks before it is published. Those checks are described below. They are designed to fail closed: an article that does not pass is not published.

Sources we use

We draw on organizations whose job is to inform the public about health, and on peer-reviewed reviews. They include:

• the American Academy of Dermatology (aad.org);
• the NHS (nhs.uk);
• MedlinePlus and MedlinePlus Genetics, from the US National Library of Medicine;
• NIAMS and the Office of Dietary Supplements, part of the US National Institutes of Health;
• the US Food and Drug Administration;
• DermNet, a dermatology reference written by dermatologists;
• Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic;
• the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, for surgical procedures;
• peer-reviewed review articles available in full on PubMed Central.

Every page lists and links the sources it cites. Where the sources disagree, we say so rather than picking the more dramatic figure.

The checks every article passes

• Numbers must match their source. Any sentence that contains a figure must cite a source, and the figure must appear in that source's text. If it doesn't, the article fails.
• Claims rules. No promises of regrowth or cures, no product rankings, no doses, no credentials we do not have, and no wording that implies a human expert wrote the piece.
• Depth. Articles must be substantial and draw on several independent sources.
• Readability. Sentences are kept short and plain, and US spelling is used throughout.
• No repeated boilerplate. The same paragraph may not appear across many articles.
• Links work. Every internal link must lead to a real page.

Automated checks catch a lot, but not everything. That is why corrections from readers matter.

How we write about treatments

We explain what each option involves: how it is used, how long it takes to judge, what happens if it is stopped, and what the side effects and cautions are. We report what the medical sources say, attributed to them. We do not rank options, recommend products or brands, or tell anyone what to take.

Pictures

Diagrams are drawn in code for Balds from the descriptions in the sources named in their captions. Photographs come from Pexels, are chosen by looking at them, and are credited. Captions describe what the photograph shows. We do not use generated images of people or before-and-after pictures.

Dates and updates

Each article shows when it was first published and when it was last rewritten from its sources. We never change a publication date to make an article look newer than it is.

Advertising and independence

Balds is supported by display advertising served by Google. Advertisers have no influence over what we write, and we do not accept payment to cover, review or favor any product, treatment or clinic. We do not use affiliate links on health pages.

Corrections

If you spot an error, please tell us through the contact page, and include the page address if you can. We check the claim against its source and correct the article if it is wrong. Significant corrections are noted on the article.