Drugs and over the counter medications
1Over the counter medications
More often, patients who take drugs, want to take less of them. The same people, want effective topical treatments instead of their current administration.
There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of different types of hair replacement pills/drugs and topical treatments available on the market today. The FDA actually approves of some of the topical treatments, along with the clinical tests, while others are DYI remedies.
How can you tell the difference?
Let's start by talking about two big name brands who dominate the hair loss
treatment category; Rogaine® and Propecia®.
1.1 Rogaine
Rogaine® is a topical treatment, which means it's sold as a cream and requires a physical application. The user must spread the cream over the scalp and balding areas. Depending on the strength of the dosage, you should leave it on the scalp for up to 4 hours at a time.
There are at least two different ways to buy Rogaine®. One way is getting a doctor's prescription. As a prescribed medicine, it's available in its "true form" and is much more powerful. However, you can buy Rogaine® over the counter in "5% form," which of course, means it may take longer to see any results.
Rogaine® was not always a hair replacement drug. Originally developed to treat high blood pressure, users reported a number of side effects during testing. One side effect was "hypertrichosis" or hair growth, mainly on the face, but other areas of the body as well.
You have to follow two methods for application. The medication is available only after prescription by the doctor. It is available as 5 percent concentrated cream and so you may expect results over a period of time.
This was initially not considered as a hair loss treatment cream. It was prescribed for treating high blood pressure. It also offered a number of side effects including hair growth in facial area and body parts.
1.2 Propecia
Very different from Rogaine®, Propecia® is an oral treatment and not a topical one. With this said, Propecia® is sold in pill form, and only needs to be ingested once a day. The sheer convenience of taking Propecia has propelled it to the top of the sales heap when compared with other popular hair replacement pills/drugs.
But in addition to being an easy solution, Propecia® also delivers positive results in up to 80% of the men prescribed the drug by their doctor. Another important fact about Propecia® is it's only for men. Women should avoid using it or even coming into physical contact with it, especially women who are pregnant as it has the ability to cause birth defects in male babies.
Propecia works by reducing the conversion of testosterone into DHT, a natural bodily chemical known to cause male pattern baldness.
2 Side effects of drugs
Although both Rogaine® and Propecia® slows the rate of hair loss and encourages the growth of new hair, both are dose-dependent. This means as soon as you stop taking them, any progress made will come to a halt and eventually begin to inverse.
With this in mind, this might prove to be an expensive and time-consuming alternative to prevent hair loss and to regrow hair for many hair loss sufferers. Furthermore, you may have a difficult time getting approval for the drug from your insurance company.
