It seems to be more comfortable and has less of a negative impact on your aesthetic. Hair loss. Last updated October 2, Written by Michael Martin. Disclaimer If you have any medical questions or concerns, please talk to your healthcare provider.
What is minoxidil? All versions have pros and cons. Liquid minoxidil may cause side effects like irritation because it contains an ingredient that the foam versions lack.
Advertisement 1st month of hair loss treatment free on a quarterly plan Find a hair loss plan that works for you Learn more. More recently, a study was conducted on 30 men who were experiencing androgenic alopecia. They were given 5 mg of oral minoxidil once daily, for 24 weeks. By week 12, a significant increase in total hair count was already recorded.
At the end of the study, it was concluded that oral minoxidil administered once daily increased hair growth. Despite the benefits promised for hair regrowth, some caution is necessary when treating hair loss with minoxidil.
Reports of irritant contact dermatitis, and the symptoms of itching and scaling that come with it have however been observed. This reaction may occur either because of an allergic reaction to the inactive agent — propylene glycol — or to the minoxidil itself. Another side effect is the already mentioned minoxidil shedding. This occurs after minoxidil use causes the telogen phase to end prematurely to give way for new hair. Even though finasteride and minoxidil have similar missions to treat hair loss, they take very different approaches to achieve their objectives.
If you recall the little masterclass on the balding process early in this article, you'll recall that hair loss is caused by the actions of DHT. Finasteride works to prevent the loss of hair by inhibiting the enzyme 5-alpha reductase, preventing it from converting testosterone into the DHT androgen.
This reduces DHT levels in the body, helping to manage hair loss. Minoxidil does things a little differently. It side-steps DHT, allowing it to run wild in the body. Instead, it focuses on the hair follicles, using its abilities as a vasodilator to give these follicles all the oxygen and nutrients they require to thrive in the hostile, DHT-ridden environment.
Normally, hair grows about half of an inch each month. Each hair grows for up to six years, then it stops growing, rests for a while, and eventually falls out and is replaced by a new hair that grows for six years. If your hair is growing normally, about 85 percent of it is growing at any given time and 15 percent of it is resting.
But if you have female pattern baldness, your hair follicles get smaller and smaller over time, Dr. Yang says. The smaller they are, the shorter the amount of time your hair grows. More on that later…. Drumroll please…. The active ingredient is one of the few medicines that actually works, and there are numerous clinical studies showing its effectiveness. There is another approved medicine for alopecia — Finasteride — but it requires a prescription which you can easily get from our preferred vendor, Keeps , through a simple, online telemedicine visit.
We like the idea of using real medicine, backed by science. And, unlike many studies, the success is judged both by the physicians and the men in the study. Here is what the abstract says about how it worked:.
At the end of the study, physicians reported that the affected area had become smaller in of the eligible subjects Regarding hair regrowth, the topical solution was rated as very effective in of the eligible patients From the conclusion:. We can go on and on listing well-designed studies showing that it works. The current thinking is the the drug acts as a vasodilator that increases blood flow, so that the hair follicles in your bald spot get more nutrients.
Rogaine used to be the only provider who offered both a liquid and a foam formulation, but now Keeps has a quality foam formulation that we like. Two times a day — for as long as you want to keep your hair. Take a peak:. And since it usually takes about 2 to 3 months to see results, the three month introductory trial is an ideal test period.
We mentioned this at the beginning of the article — Minoxidil is not the only drug approved by the FDA to treat male pattern baldness.
Another drug, Finasteride also known as Propecia , is also shown to work quite well. It requires a prescription, which up until recently made it more of a pain to get. Why double up on the medications? The medical journal Dermatologic Therapy has a study where men either got Finasteride-only, Minoxidil-only, or both a Finasteride and Minoxidil treatment. Since these are drugs, it is important to talk about the side effects.
The most common with Minoxidil is skin irritation. Sometimes this happens to me in the winter, so I just use an anti-dandruff shampoo like head and shoulders and that clears it up for me. Like any other medicine, there are a bunch of other listed side effects like acne, facial swelling, hair growth, dizziness, headache, etc.
Thankfully these are very rare, and since the drug is so widely used there is pretty good science showing that Minoxidil and Rogaine are very safe. So there is unlikely to be any difference here if you go with Rogaine or a generic version.
One critical point on side effects is that this is a drug for men, not women. Since we mentioned fin, we ought to also mention that it does have side effects as well. The most discussed side effect, at least on reddit forums, are sexual difficulties such as lowered sex drive, ED, and ejaculatory disorders. The biggest pro of getting branded Rogaine is that you get the original medicine.
The biggest con of going with the brand is the cost. Finally, we suggest you get one of their online doctor visits to see if Fin is right for you in addition to Minoxidil. For just pennies more than the cost of Rogaine at Walgreens, you can get two FDA-approved medicines shipped to your house.
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