Hair Loss Medicine

Propecia is currently held to be the most effective hair loss treatment for male patients suffering from hereditary form of hair loss. Its main active substance is finasteride, an antiandrogen capable of protecting our hair follicles from harmful effects of dihydrotestosterone attacks. Dutasteride is a chemical substance similar to finasteride but since it is a dual 5-alpha reductase inhibitor it is thought to be more powerful than Propecia’s finasteride. GlaxoSmithKline is the originator of Avodart, the drug containing dutasteride used to treat enlarged prostates (benign prostatic hyperplasia) and it has recently completed phase III clinical study of dutasteride for its application as a hair loss treatment for male patients. Although the final data has not yet been released it is expected that dutasteride can prove to be a better hair regrowth treatment than finasteride especially in the frontal area of the scalp where the hair regrowth is needed most and is most difficult to achieve. However, dutasteride is also expected to be having more serious side effects as it stays in human body for much longer than finasteride. Although, dutasteride or any of its branded forms have not been approved by the FDA for treating hair loss in the US it has already been approved in some other countries and is available as generic Avodart (dutasteride) and can be bought also in the US through numerous online pharmacies. Dutasteride is being currently also prescribed for hair loss by some doctors in the US to patients who no longer respond to finasteride. The biggest risk one takes when deciding on dutasteride apart from buying a fake product is the side effects that have not yet been properly documented. Dutasteride should not be used by young males planning to have kids in the foreseeable future as it can have potentially negative impact on the development of the male fetus.

Finasteride is an antiandrogen drug that was originally used to treat enlarged prostates (benign prostatic hyperplasia). It happened only relatively recently in the early 1990s that its hair growth promoting properties were discovered and a new dosage of 1mg finasteride a day approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treating hereditary hair loss in male patients. In the past ten years or so finasteride has become accepted as the most effective treatment for male pattern baldness that has not been beaten by any other remedy to this date. The originally approved formulation was called Propecia but finasteride is now available as generic Propecia pills (1mg finasteride) at a much lower price than the original branded product. Since it uses the same active substance it is equally powerful as the branded form.

You can buy finasteride online in many pharmacies alongside a more expensive Propecia. It is only up to you which one you prefer, but do not be surprised if branded drug is several times more expensive than generic. The most economical option is to buy generic Proscar (5mg finasteride pills) and cut the pills in five equal pieces. Some rouge online pharmacies have been caught to sell sugar pills and it is therefore often said that you should avoid buying generic products since they are more likely to be fake. However, the experience of many consumers show that it is more often branded products rather than generics that are either copied or fake as their high profit margins are more likely to attract fraud. Nevertheless, when you decide on buying any medicinal drugs online use only pharmacies that have been well established and check their references and independent reviews. The price of the pills alone should not be the only decisive factor.

Alopecia areata is an unpredictable hair loss disease affecting about 2% of the world’s population and is the second most common type of hair loss after male and female pattern baldness. It is often called spot baldness or patch baldness due to its patchy balding pattern. In severe cases, it can affect the whole scalp (alopecia totalis) or the entire body (alopecia universalis). It is not yet known what causes this condition. It is thought to be an autoimmune disease triggered by a person’s autoimmune system, which suddenly decides to attack its own hair follicles. Sometimes the hair grows back a few years later and stays and sometimes it falls out again. Although there is no treatment for alopecia areata that works 100%, some treatments have been shown to improve this condition. The most popular treatment option, which does not require a doctor’s prescription, is topical minoxidil, such as Rogaine. It can be used alone or in combination with other medicinal treatments that will be discussed later.

The most common prescription treatments for alopecia areata happen to be corticosteroid shots, injected straight into the bald spot, and steroid gels and creams. Corticosteroid injections are a more effective but also the more painful option of the two. The aim of this method is to suppress the autoimmune reaction but it has been proven to work only on small bald spots. Another common treatment for small bald spots, which is also thought to affect the autoimmune reaction, is the application of topical anthralin. Anthralin is a tar-like substance used to treat psoriasis.

Topical immunotherapy is the most commonly prescribed form of treatment for extensive alopecia areata. It uses an immunosuppressant such as cyclosporine that is applied to the skin to trigger a skin reaction similar to mild eczema, which in some cases leads to hair regrowth. This approach is also the most drastic form of treatment, causing an array of negative side effects.

Another therapy for extensive alopecia areata is PUVA, which stands for "psoralen plus ultraviolet A radiation", consisting of a topical or oral application of psoralen, followed by ultraviolet radiation. This method is better tolerated than topical immunotherapy but it is also less effective.

A recently conducted study with sulfasalazine also spells some promise for patients with severe cases of alopecia areata. Sulfasalazine is an anti-inflammatory medication originally used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and is hoped to be soon used to treat alopecia areata.

This is the short list of the most common medicinal alopecia areata treatments. There obviously is a number of other alternative therapies that are claimed to improve this condition and do not require a doctor’s visit. Consumers should be aware that none of these products has ever been clinically shown to be effective in treating spot baldness and such claims are possible only because these remedies are not regulated pharmaceuticals but non-regulated cosmetic products.

The key difference between various minoxidil based hair loss treatments is in the patient’s tolerance of the product as many patients have had to abandon treatment with minoxidil due to its disturbing side effects. It is advisable to try several different minoxidil based products, for instance, those that do not contain propylene glycol, in order to test their tolerability for your scalp.

Rogaine was the first medical drug in history approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating genetically determined hair loss. By now it has been approved and is available as a cure for baldness in many other countries of the world. Its sole active ingredient is minoxidil, a vasodilator that was initially used in the form of the oral drug Loniten to treat high blood pressure. Minoxidil is a hair-growth stimulant but its exact mode of action is not exactly known. Since Loniten has long come off patent, generic minoxidil is widely available in drugstores at a very reasonable price and in most countries it does not require a doctor’s prescription.

Both Rogaine and generic minoxidil come in concentrations of 2% for women and 5% for men but many experimental, generic products use concentrations of up to 20%. Minoxidil is often blamed for causing various negative side effects. Since it has become the most frequently-used medicine for treating baldness, its side effects are well documented and they seem to be often exaggerated. In less than one percent of patients they include an irregular or fast heart beat, very low blood pressure, blurred vision, swelling face and ankles, numbness in the hands, etc. These symptoms are directly related to minoxidil being a vasodilator. In addition, minoxidil can cause unwanted hair growth on the face and other parts of the body. This is due to its ability to stimulate new hair growth. But some negative side effects that minoxidil is usually blamed for are not caused by minoxidil itself. They include inflammation, itchiness and redness of the scalp, dandruff and allergic reactions. These side effects can be attributed to the vehicles used in the solution, such as isopropyl alcohol (propanol) and propylene glycol. Many hair loss sufferers have stopped their minoxidil treatment because of scalp problems, although minoxidil rarely causes such reactions.

Furthermore, many generic, minoxidil-based topical lotions contain supplementary ingredients that are supposed to enhance their overall efficacy, such as azelaic acid, retinoic acid, herbal extracts, etc. These substances, especially the herbal extracts, are known to be allergenic to many patients. It is advisable to try various minoxidil-based products, for instance, those that do not contain propylene glycol, in order to test their tolerability for your scalp. A more expensive product, such as the original formulation - Rogaine solution - is not necessarily a better choice than a less expensive generic mixture. However, Rogaine foam, though quite expensive, is generally well tolerated. Anti-dandruff shampoos, e.g. Nizoral, can, in the majority of patients, be employed successfully to treat scalp inflammations, itchiness and dandruff caused by the use of minoxidil-based topical products.