Oral and Topical Treatments for Alopecia

Dutasteride (Avodart) is a drug for use in treating prostate conditions and has been prescribed for the treatment of hair loss. It works in a similar way to finasteride but is said to reduce the overall DHT production by over 93 percent. As with finasteride, women should consult their physician before using dutasteride.

Minoxidil (Rogaine) is the other hair loss treatment approved by FDA and it is the only anti-baldness drug approved for women. Applied topically, its main advantage is its ability to stimulate regrowth, thus reversing the effects of hair loss. Many users combine the application of minoxidil with other treatments for hair loss to achieve maximum results, but others experience satisfactory results using minoxidil on its own.

Several studies have shown that some non-drug products promote hair regrowth but have not yet been approved by the FDA. This is partly due to the prohibitive costs to carry out trials to prove that the products are effective in promoting them as hair loss treatments. Many individuals and dermatologists nonetheless recommend use of certain non-drug treatments as an alternative or complement to pharmaceutical treatments.

In many cases, the treatments are based on natural ingredients that stimulate similar responses to those of the prescribed drugs but without side effects. The information provided here presents a selection of products that have been subjected to testing or at least have had their effectiveness supported by independent feedback.

One such a treatment is herbal supplements containing saw palmetto and fenugreek extracts. Hair loss supplements have become Europe’s biggest selling hair loss treatment. Herbal hair loss supplements come as a capsule and sub-lingual spray. Such ingredients in a hair loss supplement stimulate a response similar to finasteride, that is, inhibiting the production of dihydrotestosterone (DHT). This kind of supplement has been clinically tested and has received extensive media coverage of its success in the fight against hair loss.

Is Follicle Cloning the Ultimate Hair Loss Cure?

Scientists are at the forefront as well in trying to come up with a cure for hair loss or alopecia or baldness. Hair loss is a growing problem that causes more devastating effects to a man or woman on an emotional and psychological level than the physical level that it directly affects. Clinical tests and research are continuously conducted in trying to give an ultimate solution to the problem of alopecia or hair loss.

Several research teams around the world have successfully cloned human hair follicles, though only in limited amounts, which could prove to be the most effective permanent cure for baldness. The treatment is expected to be available in two years. In what might become the most effective permanent treatment for baldness, several research teams around the world have successfully cloned human hair follicles—though only in limited amounts.

Though human trials are yet to be held, the cloned follicles have been successfully implanted into the soles of the feet of mice and with human trials expected within two years, the new technology is giving hair loss sufferers a great hope of remedy.

Now, the challenge for scientists at the University of Melbourne and St. Vincent’s Hospital, and for research teams at Berlin Technical University, is to increase the number of follicles that can be cloned from a single hair taken from a patient’s scalp.

At the moment, one hair produces only one or two clones.

“We’ve got to find a way of increasing the yield,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Prof. Rod Sinclair, head of the research team at St. Vincent’s.

“We’ve got to find a way of multiplying one hair extracted into 1,000 hairs. What commonly happens in the expansion process is that they lose their ability to induce new hair follicles,” he said.