Hair transplantation is considered to be the best long-term solution for people suffering from hair loss. But for those who do not feel ready for surgery, there are alternative treatments for hair loss you can try in the meantime.
Over the years, both pharmaceutical companies and medical practitioners have claimed their medicines and different methods increase hair density and prevent future hair loss. The Egyptians focused on crocodile fat and donkey droppings while Hippocrates believed in a mixture of cumin, pigeon would get lost hair back again. Many of the cures and treatments that been around have never shown any scientific evidence for their claims, but now there are drugs with proven efficacy against hair loss.
Alternative treatments for hair loss
At this writing, there are two drugs that have proven efficient against hair loss. Propecia, which has the active substance Finasteride, and Rogaine (also goes under the name Recrea) containing the active substance Minoxidil.
Treat hair loss with medication?Does Rogaine and Propecia help?
Rogaine is a lotion, sprayed on the scalp once or twice a day. It slows hair loss down and, at best, strengthens existing hair. However, the effect is short-lived effect and one have to be medicated throughout their lives if they want to keep the effect. Lets say, after two years of Rogain medication, you stop then the positive effects of the treatments would be gone after two to three months.
Many believe that Rogaine is the cheapest way to handle the hair loss, but given that it requires constant medication as long as you want to keep the effect an operation can results in a cheaper alternative. Rogaine costs 150 Euro/month. Rogaine Forte is a stronger variant of Rogain and costs 19 Euro/month. Rogaine Forte is only prescribed to men.
Propecia is a medicine that comes in tablet form, containing the active ingredient finasteride, which must be used daily. The mechanism works by inhibiting the enzyme 5-alpha reductase which carries out the reaction in which testosterone forms to dihydrotestosterone (the hormone dihydrotestosterone is the main reason affecting the hair follicles to regress and eventually die). Propecia 1mg daily medication reduces dihydrotestosteron levels to 80% of normal. About half of the men who use Propecia notice their hair loss is slowing down. Like Rogaine medication must continue to keep up the positive effects of medicine. Two to six months after stopping medication the hair is lost to the stage where it should have been if medication never was implemented.
Propecia has side effects. Since the synthesis of a hormone is inhibited, all the effects of the hormone are all influenced. Approximately 1.8% experienced a reduced sex drive, and 1.3% required potency problems. In addition, Propecia reduces the levels of the protein is called prostate-specific antigen in the blood. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a protein produced almost exclusively in the prostate, but normally you can see traces of the presence of the substance in the blood of a normal blood test. Increased amounts of PSA in the blood may show prostate enlargement or prostate cancer development and requires further examination. Propecia medication lowers PSA levels by about one-third and gives faulty results of this screening method, which can mask Propecia high blood PSA value. The physician doing the prostate examination must be notified of the Propecia medication to make the correct assessment. Note that the Ilter Clinic recommends Propecia and not Rogaine along with a hair transplantation.
Can I get Proscar prescribed?
Proscar
The active ingredient in Propecia, finasteride, is also available in a different product, Proscar, used to treat BPH (benign prostatic hypertrophy). Proscar has 5 mg per tablet, five times stronger than Propecia, and on internet forum flourishes guides on how to divide Proscar tablet into five equal parts to get the same effect as the proper dosage of Propecia.
At Ilter Clinic, we sometimes receives requests for a prescription for Proscar for hair loss instead of Propecia, since Proscar is cheaper. We oppose to the prescription of Proscar for hair loss. First, there are obvious practical problems of splitting a tablet into five equal parts. Secondly, even if you manage to split the tablet correctly, the body’s absorption of the medicine will change. The biological availability of the drug is changes. The biological availability is a measure of how well a drug’s active ingredient is transported from the stomach to the blood stream, where it exerts its effects. If you change the tablet’s conformation, in this case by the exposing tablet’s inner content the biological availability will for sure change. Excactly how much, and in which direction, the effect of medication changes is unclear, but it will be changed.
Ilter Clinic follows a policy of not prescribing medicines intended for prostate treatment. As a hair transplantation clinic we do not do any prostate follow-up on our patients.
Herbal, nutritional supplements and laser treatments for hair loss.
Not surprisingly, there are many herbal remedies and there are dietary supplements said to help to slow down or stop hair loss. The pharmacies for example example have Priorin from the Danish company Bayer AS, which has 90 capsules Panicum millaceum, and is marketed as dietary supplements. Of course, they can help if you lose hair because of malnutrition, but the genetic hair loss will not be slowed by vitamins and supplements.
Hair loss and laser treatments
Hair loss is often, without sufficient scientific evidence, treated with laser. The idea is that the laser rays should penetrate the scalp and increasing blood circulation, this would strengthen the weakened hair follicles. This would result in more hair follicles producing thicker hairs. If this method works is under discussion. Read more about laser treatment for hair loss here.
