Is there anything that can be done for hair loss in women. Mine has been determined by my PCP that it is hereditary. I have seen a Derm physician specializing in this area. He mentioned the following:
1. Do the Rogaine lotion (but do the 5% not the 2%)
2. Finasteride, but instead of the 1 mg do the 2 mg. This is Propecia though right? My PCP had mentioned that it should not be used in women or women that are pregnant, but there is no chance of that at this point. Or is it for all women that it is not recommended? He said the 1 mg is FDA approved by 2 mg is not FDA approved.
3. Mesotherapy (Keractive)…also not FDA approved. Right now used more for skin rejuvenation. Injections into the scalp of vitamins.
I’m desperate. I’m a 41 year old female and need some answers. I’m treated at one of the biggest hospitals in MI and no one can seem to help me. I’m tempted at this point to see someone at the hair loss club, or something like that. What do you think about the above. I have the rogaine but it seems to dry out my scalp/hair. Making things worse.
SUGGESTIONS!!!! I will send some photos to the email below.
What I can comment on is that finasteride (1mg or 2mg) is not approved by the FDA for use in women. If you should become pregnant on this drug, your child will have a high risk of sexual deformities and there may be effects on certain types of female cancers like breast, ovary, cervical or uterus. I’ve written previously about Mesotherapy.
Female hair loss is unfortunately a difficult problem without clear and definite solutions and many desperate women collectively spend millions of dollars a year trying to find a cure. If you are seeing a specialist, and have a good rapport and understand the treatment limitations and its risks, it is your ultimate choice. Be careful in selecting who you see as many people and their sales staffs may just want to sell you things like transplants or wigs that may not be in your best interest.
It sounds like you experienced shock loss and if this is in the miniaturized hair, the hair may not come back. Treating thinning with transplants is not something I do often. In many people with miniaturized hair, transplanting into that ‘unhealthy’ hair does little to really increase the fullness. I believe that for most people like you, any benefit you will get in the long term may be lost in the short term, making transplants a poor decision. I would think that Propecia should have been used in advance of your hair transplant procedure just to minimize this risk. The transplants done may offset the hair loss and the Propecia may bring some of the hair back. Only time will tell. Once the glass of milk falls and the milk spills out, it may be impossible to bring it back.
These reference sites are what they are and say what they say. I have looked up finasteride on the United States Patent office website and found issued Method patents for finasteride — #5,571,817, granted November 1996 “Methods of treating androgenic alopecia with finasteride” and #5,567,708, granted October 1996 “Methods of treating androgenic alopecia with finasteride”. Clearly, this is a treatment method for hair loss defined for this drug and if these publication dates hold, they would be good for 17 years from the date of issue (for patents filed at that time), but as a method patent they may have limited value. In March 1999, Merck received patent #5,886,184 for the process of manufacture of finasteride and it may be this process that is the enforcing patent, as I understand that method patents can not be enforced in providing a service related process for healthcare in the United States. Another process patent for manufacture was published in November 1995 again following the 17 year rule.