Medicines to treat hair loss
There are some medicines that exert their effect by blocking the action of DHT (the hormone that causes hair loss).
Recrea and Rogaine containing both minoxidil. These are purchased at the pharmacy. Propecia is a medication where the active ingredient units Finasteride, which inhibits the formation of DHT. Propecia is a prescription medication and you have to ask your family doctor if he or she wants to prescribe it for you. For those who have lost a lot of hair, the above drugs have no effect.
Propecia – Finasteride
This medicine has been in existence for some years, and have a proven braking effect on at least half of the men with male pattern hair loss, hearing the agent. To be sure if you belong to the half, which benefits from Propecia, you should take the agent – one tablet daily for 3-6 months. How long does it predates one might expect any effect. You stop taking Propecia, it is estimated that hårförlusterna within half a year back at least as large as before the treatment.
The active ingredient is called Finasteride. At dosage of 1 mg per day reduces the agent the conversion of testosterone to DHT by about 80%.
Propecia has few side effects, and these are also temporary if you stop taking the pill. Sex drive out to reduce the one in 100 to one of 1000. The amount of testosterone in the blood are not affected (fall in any case), and Propecia does not impact in a doping test.
American hair clinics recommend most of their patients to be on Propecia after a hair transplant. The argument is roughly as follows: A transplant means that the skin on the skull are stressed. This is manifested in the form of redness. Beneath the surface also happens a lot, we do not see, but which may mean that the original hair follicles can go into resting phase. Shock cases out is the term, commonly used for this. Most often recover these follicles (except perhaps the weakest, fluff producer of course). These follicles are simultaneously during hormonal stress, ie the influence of DHT. Can you reduce the stress by taking Propecia, should – at least theoretically – reduce the risk of shock cases out. However, Propecia hardly have any effect on the transplanted hair, as this is not hormone sensitive.
Personally I am quite sympathetic to finasteride, I have hardly met a patient who reported side effects. However, I believe that the price of Propecia should be lowered. The absence thereof may be partially due to MSD (pharmaceutical company) must maintain a fairly consistent price image in Europe to prevent parallel imports from cheaper market areas. Today, 1 year of treatment with Propecia costs about 4000 SEK.
Proscar – Finasteride 5 mg
Actually, this is not a medicine, as recorded against male pattern baldness. The active ingredient, finasteride, is exactly the same as that of the treatments. The difference is that a tablet is Proscar of 5 mg, Propecia only 1 mg.
Today, 98 pcs Proscar costs about 1000 SEK. The pharmacy sells a special Pill devider with which you can easily halve the Proscar tablet. By subsequently in the same pill split halves may be fourths talbetter, each containing 1.25 mg of finasteride. In practice, it would be irrelevant, if you take this dose (instead of 1 mg as Propecia), whether the effect on hair loss or the potential for adverse effects. But the cost of a year’s supply will be the 1000 SEK, a considerably cheaper option than Propecia. Then I’ve assumed that the prescription of Proscar occurred without drug discount. Everything else must be condemned as an abuse of our pharmaceutical benefits, unless it happens to be that the patient really is in need of Proscar to shrink a growing prostate.
Rogaine
In complicated cases of hypertension were used already in the 70′s a substance called minoxidil. In some patients there was an excessive hair growth on the face, and in some cases actually decreased the extent of a “moon”. This led to the pharmaceutical company developed a drug, where minoxidil in alcohol solution, designed to drop into the balding areas of scalp.
This medicine, Rogaine, was initially just one strength (20 mg / ml). For some years there is more than twice as strong preparation, Rogaine Forte, with 50mg/ml. The agent must be applied twice a day, and even rubbed on. It is important to not use your fingers bring substance to other parts of the skin, as it can lead to increased hair growth in unwanted places. I have seen one case where the person was forced to shave regularly in the middle of the forehead down to his nose. I have also seen some patients who responded to the solution with itching. Sometimes it has been the drying effect of alcohol, sometimes probably a hypersensitivity reaction. It happens that the itch can sit for several months after discontinuing use Regaine.
It is estimated that about half of the users are provided with some desired effect. It can at best be a qualitative improvement of existing thin hair, and a creation of typically thin hair from follicles that would otherwise have been in continued torpor. It can have a significant cosmetic value to a densification of the front hairline, although the most case of fluff and thinner strands. To know if you have a joy of reading, it must be run continuously for at least 4 months, sometimes longer. If treatment is interrupted, the state returns to the starting position after 3-4 months, or in plain language: It is effective only as long as you can massage the product twice a day, and then drop you off even the “extra” hair possibly received during treatment .
Rogaine costs about 200 SEK/month to use, and this is also available for women. Rogaine Forte Only registered against male pattern hair loss in men, and costs about 200/månad in 3-month package. If you are planning a hair transplant, we recommend that you avoid use of Rogaine 4 weeks before surgery, because otherwise it may bleed more than usual in the scalp. There is a cheaper minoxidil on the Swedish market, Recrea 20 mg / ml. The price difference is less than 10%.
Avodart
The active ingredient dutasteride, and it works by preventing the male sex hormone (testosterone) into DHT (dihydrotestosterone). It is DHT that can get the hair follicles on the crown shrink, and eventually completely stop their hair production. Because dutasteride exerts a more powerful effect than finasteride (the active ingredient in Propecia), one might suspect that Avodart could also be a powerful remedy against male pattern baldness. In the United States erupted almost hysteria on Internet among people with an interest in thinning hair, when the medicine went on sale. It is important to state that it has not yet been any registration of a “Avodart variant” for the indication of male pattern baldness.