Propecia may Reverse Hair Loss in Women - Study Involved Ladies that Used Hair Loss Finateride Treatment For Pattern Baldness

March 21st 2006

Hair Loss Treatments

The medication approved for hair loss in men, Finateride (Propecia or Proscar), may also help prevent hair loss in women, when combined with oral contraceptives. When people think about hair loss they typically think of balding men, not women. The truth is that both men and women lose hair and about half of all women experience pattern hair loss.

According to the report, if the hair loss is untreated it will likely get worse. The current treatments include minoxidil, a medication typically applied to the scalp to encourage hair regrowth. Minoxidil is effective, but not always well accepted by patients.

Italian researchers evaluated the effectiveness of 2.5 milligrams of finasteride taken by mouth daily and combined with an oral contraceptive in 37 women between the ages 19 and 50 years. Since Finasteride has been linked to birth defects, all the women were required to use birth control pills. The contraceptives were the type that reduced male hormone levels, because that effect may also contribute to the treatment of hair loss.

Matilde Iorizzo, M.D., and colleagues at the University of Bologna, Italy, evaluated the effectiveness by comparing photographs before and after the treatments and by measuring hair density with a technique known as computerized light videodermoscopy. After 12 months the researchers compared the hair loss or gains.

They found that “23 (62 percent) patients were rated as improved using comparisons of the photographs. Thirteen patients did not improve, and one patient's condition worsened. Hair density scores increased in 12 patients. On a questionnaire, 29 patients reported that their condition improved after 12 months, eight said that it had stabilized and none reported that it had worsened. None of the participants had adverse reactions to the treatment.”

The results are published in the March issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.