Men's and Women's Hair Loss Drugs for Baldness and Androgenetic Alopecia | Minoxidil/Rogaine and Finasteride/Propecia

Hair Loss Medications

For millennium if you lost your hair there wasn't all that much you could do about it. You could cover up the bald spot but once you lost it you weren't going to be able to grow it back. That has changed. There are hair growth medications that can help regrow hair for some.

Causes of baldness

The vast majority of people that lose their hair lose it to a hereditary condition called androgenetic alopecia. Ninety-five percent of hair loss is of this variety. The common term is male-pattern baldness, or if it affects women, female-pattern baldness.

With both male- and female-pattern baldness, the culprit is something called dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, which is derived from androgen, a male hormone. Circulating through the bloodstream, androgen is converted to DHT by the enzyme 5-alpha reductase. Those with greater enzyme activity have more DHT binding to hair-follicle receptors. If flooded by DHT, the follicles sprout thinner and thinner hairs until nothing regrows, and the follicles eventually wither away.

Another condition, called alopecia areata, is an autoimmune disease. In this disease, your immune system, for some reason, attacks the hair follicles under the scalp. The result is that the hair falls out in patches. Sometimes, the problem is more severe, and all the hair of the head is affected, even eyebrows, as well as body hair. In alopecia areata, the hair can start to start growing again spontaneously.

Hair loss can also be caused by other problems, including diseases and even stress. A dermatologist would need to diagnose the cause of the hair loss, which would then help determine the best treatment, either hair replacement medications, hair transplantation surgery or hair pieces. Below you'll find more information on hair loss medications.

Hair Loss Drugs: Minoxidil / Rogaine

The first hair loss medication is called minoxidil. It was marketed originally as Rogaine. It is topical, which means you rub it on your hair and scalp. To be effective, minoxidil must be used twice a day. It works better on those who are younger and whose hair loss is recent, according to clinical studies. It is approved for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata.

Those studies claim that 26 percent of men between 18 and 49 reported moderate to dense hair regrowth after four months of Rogaine treatment. An additional 33 percent had minimal hair regrowth. Almost 20 percent of women between 18 and 45 had moderate regrowth, while an additional 40 percent showed minimal regrowth.

One possible side effect of minoxidil is an itchy scalp. Another drawback is that it must be used for life or any regrown hair will fall out. Also, only those people losing hair on the crown, not in front, are candidates for regrowth.

Minoxidil was originally a blood pressure drug taken internally. People on the drug reported that their hair was starting to grow back.

You have to keep using minoxidil your entire life. If you stop using it, the hair will fall out again.

Hair Loss Drugs: Finasteride / Propecia

Another hair loss drug was discovered much the same way. Finasteride originally was used to treat enlarged prostate glands. It was called Proscar. It has anti-androgen properties. The theory is that it halts the conversion of testosterone to DHT.

The new name it is marketed as is Propecia. It is in a pill form, and was the first such treatment for men in pill form. There is 1 mg of finasteride in Propecia and 5 mg in Proscar. It was observed that some patients being treated for prostate enlargement had some regrowth of hair in areas of male pattern hair loss.

It is not available to women because it causes birth defects. In fact, women are warned not to even handle the pills.

You have to keep using finasteride your entire life. If you stop using it, the hair will fall out again.

Corticosteroids for hair loss

Corticosteroids can also be used to treat some cases of hair loss caused by alopecia areata. Treatment can be administered as:

• corticosteroid injections, which are injected into the hair follicles
• corticosteroid pills, which may be prescribed for extensive hair loss due to alopecia areata
• corticosteroid ointments or creams, which can be applied topically, although some consider them less effective than injections.

Corticosteroids would be prescribed by a doctor or dermatologist.

Anthralin | Dritho Scalp

Anthralin is a synthetic or man-made substance that is applied to the scalp, in either cream of ointment form. It is a tarry substance, which you leave on, then wash off. Although it is not approved for hair loss, it can stimulate new hair growth in some people with alopecia areata, after about three months of use.

Antiandrogens

In some women who are experiencing hair loss, anti-androgens can be used. For example, some women may have hair loss as part of a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome or PCOS. This condition also causes hormonal acne, infertility and other problems. Anti-androgens work to decrease the level of male hormones.

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Updated September 2008

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