| Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | PATIENT OPTIONS
 Medical Therapy | | Medical Therapy enhances or replaces surgical therapy for many individuals. It is important for you to consider this option to slow down or rarely partially reverse the hair loss process. Today you are primarily buying time until we have technically more advanced medical or surgical solutions such as a new medication or hair cloning. While there is nothing presently on the horizon that can replace hair restoration surgery at this time, it makes sense that you should try to maintain what you have as long as possible. The two primary medications are Finasteride (Propecia) and Minoxidil (Rogaine). In Europe this is called Regaine. Both medications work similaryly to increase the growing phase of hair. They have different mechanisms of action and appear to be synergistic. Another medication that has more recently been shown to improve hair coverage is Nizoral Shampoo. Other products such as "folligard", saw palmetto, and "avacor" are very weak medications that are probably no better than taking a placebo. There are four phases of hair Growth, These include anagen, catagen, telogen, and exogen. The anagen phase is the actively growing phase. Propecia and Minoxidil act to increase the duration of anagen. This means more hairs are on the surface of the scalp and fewer are in your drain or on the pillow. More hairs on top of your scalp means better scalp coverage. Unfortunately, when you look at the long term data, these medications appear to loose some of their affect and hair loss progresses. This means the only way to have long term coverage is through hair transplantation. Minoxidil is oily. The propylene glycol in it often irritates the skin. If you suffer from a rash or irritation from using minoxidil try having your pharmacist compounding it without the propylene glycol. You may also want to substitute Nizoral Shampoo for the minoxidil. Key Benefits - Delay the hair loss process.
- Rarely reverse hair loss.
- Delay surgery.
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