Topical & Drugs: Overview
Topical and oral treatment techniques can range from pills to creams and can have a variety of results. There are many positive outcomes possible from use of these products along with many possible side effects. Most people like to try this route in the early stages of hair loss. These treatments are relatively inexpensive and can be beneficial in stopping small amounts of hair loss. Some may even regrow your own hair. If you have large amounts of hair loss or have been bald for a very long time, these treatments will be useless to you.
Younger patients with no health problems are great candidates for topical and oral treatments. You generally begin treatment with small doses daily, and over time you increase the size of your dose. To begin seeing results it can take anywhere from 3 months to a year as it takes time for your hair to grow longer and come in thicker. Generally, after a year with no results, it is safe to assume that these drugs aren't working for you and you should discontinue use.
There are a lot of drug treatments for hair loss available on the market today, but we only recommend two of them: Rogaine and Propecia are the only two approved for use by the FDA. Every other product available is either an imitator or does not work. There is a reason that they are approved by the FDA, and that reason is that they have been proven to work in many cases. Both of the active ingredients in Rogaine & Propecia were originally used for other medicinal purposes, but it was eventually discovered that they also spurred hair growth. Over time the drugs were fine-tuned and became accepted as the only two proven to grow hair. If you are planning on trying this route, we suggest trying one of these two options as all the others can just be written off as "miracle-in-a-bottle" products with no solid proof backing their claims.
As with any other type of hair replacement technique, there will be convincing ads accompanying every single other product out there, and they will sound great. One thing to understand is that these products work by causing chemical reactions inside of your body. Products that are not approved by the FDA could cause a lot to go on inside your body that you do not want. Rogaine & Propecia also have side effects, but they are well documented. Drug interactions can conlict with other medications you may already be taking, and can interfere with pregnancy or even your current lifestyle. Before you begin any type of treatment using drugs to help fight hair loss, you should consult with your doctor so he or she can figure out what side effects and interactions there might be for you.