The main existing approaches to combating hair loss include a) antiandrogen treatment, which addresses the leading cause of hereditary baldness – dihydrotestosterone's (DHT) negative effects on hair follicles and b) promoting new hair growth with hair growth stimulants. Hereditary hair loss in both men and women is caused by DHT attacking our hair follicles, leading to their miniaturisation and eventual death. Propecia (generic name finasteride) is the only FDA-approved antiandrogen for treating hair loss in men and one of the only two FDA-approved hair loss treatments available today. The other FDA-approved treatment is Rogaine (generic name minoxidil) and it is a hair growth stimulant that can be used by both sexes. These two drugs are generally considered the best options for treating male hair loss at the moment and should be tried first.
Some doctors recommend fortifying the effects of these two drugs with a ketoconazole-containing shampoo such as Nizoral. Both finasteride and minoxidil are, besides their original formulations, also available in generic, and, therefore, less expensive formulations. Dutasteride is a drug similar to finasteride in its effects and also frequently prescribed to male customers. Though considered to be yet more effective than finasteride, its FDA approval for hair loss is still pending. Female alternatives to finasteride are two antiandrogens - spironolactone (trade name Aldactone) and cyproterone acetate (Diane 35, Diane 50, Ginette 35). Both of them are commonly prescribed to female hair loss patients and have demonstrated some efficacy, although none of them has been approved as a hair loss treatment by the FDA.
However, the aforementioned medicinal treatments, and particularly finasteride, are often blamed for causing negative side effects. Finasteride works by inhibiting the conversion of the male hormone testosterone into follicle-harming DHT, thus reducing its plasma levels. This can have feminising effects on some male patients. Therefore, scientists are looking for alternative antiandrogen therapies that would, instead of preventing the conversion into DHT, bind to the receptor sites in hair follicles and thus compete with DHT. This approach is expected to prevent the negative side effects resulting from the artificially low DHT levels in the male body caused by finasteride treatment.
Many herbs and naturally-derived substances are claimed to address hair loss by binding to and blocking activity in the androgen receptor sites of hair follicles. Although no relevant clinical proof exists some of those substances have demonstrated, in smaller, usually sponsored, studies, the ability to promote hair growth and can be found in numerous generic, hair loss products. A list of such substances includes extracts from saw palmetto, stinging nettle, pygeum africanum and green tea, beta-sitosterol, azelaic acid, caffeine, essential fatty acids, alfatradiol, etc.
Other promising substances that have been shown to promote hair growth but which do not seem to interfere with DHT include aminexil, a molecule similar to minoxidil, procyanidins, adenosine, copper peptides and superoxide dismutase. The HairMax laser comb, though not FDA-approved, as often misleadingly claimed by its marketers, may be considered helpful in improving the overall health of the scalp and is often used as a supportive treatment to some of the above-mentioned therapies.
When deciding on the best treatment for your current condition, you should first try the two FDA-approved remedies and start experimenting with alternative treatments only to enhance this basic regimen or if negative side effects occur, forcing you to abandon medicinal treatments. Although it is often necessary to experiment with several different treatments, avoid using them all at the same time. We are all different and, therefore, it is impossible to say what works best for everybody. Some treatments work better than others and this list mentions only the most promising hair loss remedies available today, so look out for them when deciding what to buy.
Tags: propecia, finasteride, dutasteride, minoxidil, antiandrogen
Back to Hair Loss
I arrived at the hotel the day before my appointment, ready, excited and pumped with anticipation to have this treatment done again. I had a lot less apprehension because I pretty much knew what to except. As some of you will recall, a big point of anxiety for me during the last trip, was exactly how much pain was involved in this process. Well thankfully that anxiety didn’t exist because I had already experienced the process and knew it was not that big a deal.
An hour before I was to depart, I dialed the front desk to ask for a cab to pick me up. Before I knew it I was being whisked away by some crazy driver who seriously needs to re-evaluate her profession. I’ve never in my life had a cab ride quite like that before. I found myself bracing at every turn and frantically clutching on to the seat for dear life. And to make matters worse, she didn’t take credit cards! Every cab pretty much takes credit cards nowadays, but her machine was getting serviced (uh huh). So now I had to rummage through my purse (something resembling a black hole) to pull out dollars and quarters. Shockingly I had the cash. Yay for spare change!
ha! His words truly were really echoing what I already felt about my current state of hair loss improvement, so that was great. The process started off with injections to numb my head, then Dr. Greco used a microneedle roller on the scalp, and then comes time for the yumminess - the PRP injections. Pop pop pop (what the injections sound like in my head) and the hardest part is over. Lastly, the doctor and Val massage the PRP in, and clean up my scalp a tad. When they finished and shut the overhead light off, I said “Is that all?” I was really surprised it had gone by so fast and it just seemed so much easier than the last time.
During my last treatment I had some discomfort post treatment when the numbing medication wore off, so this time I decided to take Tylenol before, immediately after and another 4 hours later after that. I think that was the super special recipe for myself, because I didn’t really experience any post treatment pain or discomfort, and I didn’t even have head swelling. Of course me being ME, I start to think, “well something has to be off, will it work the same?” It couldn’t possibly be the wonder magic of Tylenol, could it? I emailed the doctor with my concern regarding lack of pain (I know that’s funny) and he wrote back letting me know that it will indeed work as well as the last time. From time to time, my mind still reflects on that, as though I HAVE to have pain to see results. I know, I know that’s just plain nutty, welcome to my world 
So I return back to the hotel, kicked off my shoes and ordered up a little self prescribed aftercare… a bottle of Robert Mondavi chardonnay. That evening I actually felt good enough to go out to eat for dinner (with my hat on of course), so my fiance and I ventured out for some good eating. The next morning I showered and lightly shampooed my scalp, rinsing it clean and then it was off to the airport.
It’s been 3 months today since I received my PRP hair loss treatment with Dr. Joseph Greco last November 2009. I have been meaning to write my PRP update for quite sometime, but I wanted to wait until I was sure of what I felt my results (if any) actually were.
Differing hair transplantation assessments is most likely a fairly common occurrence, and it’s difficult to state that one surgeon is “right” while the other is “wrong.” There are several variables which could cause this issue and lead to a bit of post-consultation confusion: