HAIR LOSS TREATMENT FOR WOMEN

Women are in a very disadvantageous position when it comes
to treating hair loss using drug treatments. Doctors are
reluctant to prescribe drugs for treating women, even though
they may work to a certain extent. Drug companies are not
taking any steps to prevent and treat female hair loss and
pattern baldness either. There are no specific drugs tested to
tackle this problem.

Doctors hesitate in providing systematic treatments, as these
treatments affect the body’s androgen levels. Without
confirming that high androgen levels or sensitive over responses to
normal levels are causing hair loss, they can not prescribe a
treatment which can bring the androgen level back to
normal. Therefore they prefer tropical treatments which are applied
to the scalp directly.

If treatment is not started as soon as possible after the first signs of hair loss appear, there is a chance that extended androgenic alopecia will destroy a lot of hair follicles. To prevent further damage to hair follicles and to stimulate growth from dormant but working follicles which are a result of prolonged hair loss, anti-androgens can be used. If the treatment is stopped, the hair loss will start again unless the body androgen levels are kept stable through some other way. It is advisable to keep vitamin and mineral levels under check while on a systematic treatment.

Treatment Methods

Minoxidil (Rogaine)
Minoxidil was originally used as a tablet medicine for the treatment of high blood pressure. When excessive hair growth (hypertrichosis) was found to be its side effect, further research was carried out which showed that hair growth could be stimulated if a minoxidil solution was applied to the scalp.

Minoxidil is available under the name of Rogaine and is more effective for women as compared to men. It is recommended that only a 2 percent concentration of minoxidil should be used, but clinical trials are under way to test the effectiveness of a 5 percent concentration solution.

Spironolactone (Aldactone)
This is a potassium-sparing diuretic. It is an anti androgen and workds by slowing doen androgen production or blocking androgen action.

Some other treatments are as follows: