Hair Loss Treatment Review For Men & Women

Ever since men and women started losing hair, there have been
’remedies’ to stop or reverse the process, and many a con-artist
or trickster happy to make a quick buck through the misery and
misfortune of others. I can imagine one of our distant ancestors
buying a toupee fashioned out of twigs only to be ridiculed by
the rest of the tribe.

Indeed potential cures have ranged from Wiccan magic spells to
getting various animals, commonly cows in India to lick the
scalp of a balding man. An eighth century Chinese remedy which
involves catching a green grass snake and pounding it to death
in a bag of silk and then boiling the remains and rubbing them
into your scalp and the Native Americans had a similar remedy,
replacing the snakes with scorpions, nettles and the urine from
a pregnant woman!

On a more serious note, bearing in mind all causes of hair loss
as discussed in my other articles, there are only two types of
treatments are going to work, those which address the hormonal
sensitivity, or treatments that stimulate growth despite it. And
as it happens there are only two drug treatments approved by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for male baldness:
Minoxidil and Finasteride. And we will begin by looking at
Minoxidil today.

Minoxidil (more commonly known by its trade names Rogaine and
Regaine) is a vasodilator medication which was first used
exclusively as an oral drug to treat high blood pressure.
However those using it will noticed an interesting side effect,
namely increased growth and darkening of fine body hairs.

Seeing the potential of this Upjohn Corporation produced a
topical solution that contained 2% minoxidil to be used to treat
baldness and hair loss, under the brand name Rogaine in the
United States and Canada, and Regaine in Europe and the
Asia-Pacific. Treatments are available in 5% concentration
solution for men and 2% concentration solutions for women.

How Minoxidil works is still not fully understood but studies
have shown it is effective in preventing hair loss and may help
attain some regrowth. One particular study in healthy males aged
18–50 years with male pattern baldness found that compared to a
baseline of 103 to 106 hairs/cm2, those who applied of a 5%
solution of minoxidil for 32 weeks increased their hair counts
by an average of 39 hairs/cm2, in contrast to 5 hairs/cm2 in
subjects who received a placebo.

It should be noted that Minoxidil has shown to be more
effective in younger men (18 to 41 years of age) and has shown
to work only in the central vertex are, so will not help those
with a receding hairline.

As with most medicines some side affects should normally be
expected however Minoxidil fares pretty well in this department.

The most common side effect of topical (i.e. external use) is
in fact an itchy scalp, dandruff and hair loss. Yes you did read
that correctly, hair loss is a common side effect of minoxidil
treatment, however manufacturers and users say this is part of
the shedding and regrowing effect. However there is no guarantee
that the new hair loss will be replaced with hair growth.
Regardless Minoxidil remains one of the most widely used
treatment of balding in the world today. It is my personal
recommendation for slowing down the balding process before you
consider hair transplant.



Source: http://www.isnare.com