Treating Your Aged Hair with Meds: All You Need to Know Before Pricey Procedures

This may be your case: your skull is thinning slowly but surely, and your hair is becoming increasingly scarce … There are too many solutions for those who are bothered by this issue. This is nothing unusual, it is usually an ‘androgenetic baldness’, very common in men after 50 years. In some people, hair loss even begins much earlier, sometimes before the age of 20. Androgenetic alopecia is the accentuation of a natural physiological process, which simply manifests itself earlier than normal. It is not an illness. However, if it becomes a complex, baldness can be treated. There are many solutions, from natural treatments to transplants or medicines. 

Natural Remedies Market

Whether a grandmother’s recipe passed on from generation to generation, a homemade hair lotion or a course of food supplements, certain nutrients are recognized for their beneficial action on hair. Wheat germ, millet, green tea, brewer’s yeast, castor oil, cedar essential oil, but also proteins, vitamins and minerals are thus known to boost blood flow, accelerate hair cycle, or even strengthen hair giving it a denser appearance. A very profitable market has therefore been organized around the fight against baldness: the offer is promising, access is easy and does not require a medical prescription, and the risks are almost nonexistent. But if these products produce many followers, however, there is an opinion against their effectiveness in androgenetic alopecia. By definition, it is not linked to any deficit but to a natural phenomenon. You can find everything and anything on the Internet, but these supplements are not standardized and no controlled study has shown their effectiveness on this type of baldness.

Medicines, in Which Cases?

Since the 1990s, several drug solutions have been developed. Finasteride is among them, which certainly remains one of the most prescribed drugs for the purchase at Canadian Meds World, the digital healthcare provider with a reputation of the cheapest drugs in the industry. The pharmacy service helps to establish the best therapy options as prescribed by your doctor, proceeding from the economical convenience for the customer. Since this drugstore is one of the handful of pharmacies whose work is centered around patient benefit, customers consistently choose it as a provider for the daily medical supplies.

Originally used to treat enlarged benign prostate, it was later formulated to combat baldness. By inhibiting the action of the enzyme responsible for the transformation of testosterone into DHT, the hormone responsible for hair loss, it effectively slows down the process, without the risk of side-effects. Simply put, it changes the hormonal signal to tell the follicle to continue producing hair. On paper, Finasteride could therefore revive the production of inactive hair follicles and make hair regrowth even after its disappearance. But we cannot work miracles. Doctors always warn their patients that treatment usually does not grow hair back where it is gone, but just slows down the inevitable physiological process of falling helping to stabilize the situation for a few years.

The beneficial action is therefore not definitive: if the medication is stopped, hair loss resumes immediately. Specialists therefore prefer to refer to other solutions. Certainly, Finasteride is the most effective drug solution, but a patient wants to treat androgenetic baldness, and they rather suggest a local solution, such as Minoxidil.

Unlike Finasteride, Minoxidil comes in the form of a lotion that is daily applied directly to the scalp as recommended by experts. Originally developed to treat hypertension, it causes vasodilation of blood vessels, which promotes the activity of the hair follicle. Its few side-effects (local irritation, eczema, drop in blood pressure) remain rather mild and stop when treatment is terminated.

What about Transplant?

Another solution for those who do not accommodate their baldness: a transplant. We now even speak of “micro-grafting” because patient’s hair is no longer re-implanted in groups but individually, on bald areas. For this, follicular grafts are taken from the occipital area – at the back of the head – by excision. This is an area untouched by baldness in most men. The intervention is a small scar, but one that will be hidden by hair.

In the short term, the result of a micro-transplant is stunning. But dermatologists warn: it is imperative that the one who performs the transplant has good technical expertise and that he is also capable of predicting the development of baldness and positioning the grafts so that the appearance remains natural, otherwise, the risk is to end up with a grafted area isolated from other hair which, in turn, will eventually disappear.

In addition to micro-grafting, some specialized clinics praise the PRP (platelet rich plasma) technique, which consists of injecting blood plasma into the scalp with the promise of slowing down the fall and stimulating regrowth. A fairly expensive technique, which, like the transplant, can require several sessions and a few hundred dollars depending on the severity of baldness.

Note also that no drug or surgical treatment is reimbursed in the case of androgenetic natural alopecia, the problem being considered purely cosmetic.

There then remains an inexpensive alternative with no adverse effect: accepting the inexorable aging of the body (and hair), ignoring social pressure and idealized male stereotypes.

Finasteride: Watch out for Side-Effects

Finasteride is widely prescribed for its notable effectiveness on hair loss and has recently been the subject of legal battles, especially in Canada where associations of victims are demanding its withdrawal from the market. They question the seriousness of the undesirable effects on sexual and psychological health. A medical expert details the effects of which he is a victim: ‘All of a sudden, it was as if my body had gone out. On the one hand, my sexuality, with a loss of desire, a total impotency, and affected genitals. From a mental point of view too, with a loss of motivation and personality, an inability to concentrate, excruciating mental mists, suicidal desires.’ Contacted about the side-effects of Finasteride, the drug manufacturer and patent owner told that they were communicating proactively with health authorities and service providers to quickly make complete information available on all (their) drugs. The regularly updated leaflet of Finasteride 1 mg warns against the possibility of undesirable effects: erectile dysfunction, reduced libido, abnormal ejaculation, or even breast swelling. Adverse effects, especially sexual disorders, may persist for several years after stopping treatment.