Before selecting any hair regrowth treatment or referring to your friend, you should know about the following factors:
What are the side effects of different treatments?
Externally used pharmaceutical hair loss treatments (lotion) – commonly applied externally to the scalp. Originally used as an internal medication for high blood pressure due to it’s action of dilating blood vessels. During it’s use as a blood pressure medication, patients discovered that not only did their blood pressure improve but they also grew more hair (head hair and body hair).
It is used now topically as a 2% solution, commonly for women suffering with hair loss and as a 5% solution for men.
After 30-60 days of stopping use, the hair loss rate will return to normal.
Side Effects of Externally used pharmaceutical hair loss treatments (lotion)
- Itching or skin rash More Common
- Acne at site of application
- burning of scalp
- facial hair growth
- increased hair loss
- inflammation or soreness at root of hair
- reddened skin
- swelling of face
Signs and symptoms of too much medicine being absorbed into the body- Less Common
- Blurred vision or other changes in vision
- chest pain
- dizziness
- fainting
- fast or irregular heartbeat
- flushing
- headache
- lightheadedness
- numbness or tingling of hands, feet, or face
- swelling of face, hands, feet, or lower legs
- weight gain (rapid)
Source: www.drugs.com
Internally used pharmaceutical hair loss treatments (X tablet) – is taken internally as medication.
X tablet mainly used as a treatment for a condition known as Benign Prostatic Hypertplasia, which obviously occurs in men. Symptoms include difficulty urinating, getting up during the night to urinate, hesitation at the start of urination and decreased urinary flow.
It is also used for hair loss. The way it helps with this is by blocking the conversion of testosterone into DHT, which occupies receptor sites at the base of the hair follicles. By building up around the base of the follicle, DHT actually chokes off the blood supply to the dermal papilla which nourishes the hair roots. If blood flow is blocked to the dermal papilla then essential nutrients and oxygen cannot reach the hair root and so the hair begins to become dull and may eventually die.
While X tablet effectively blocks the hormone responsible for androgenetic hair loss, numerous studies suggest that it can also have damaging effects on users’ sexual health:
- In 1997, manufacturer Merck & Co. released clinical data on the drug’s safety – 3.8 percent of men treated with X tablet reported one or more adverse sexual side effects.
- More recent studies demonstrate that X tablet’s sexual side effects can continue well after people stop taking it. Furthermore, sexual adverse reactions can be irreversible.
- In one study, a 24-year-old male who started taking X tablet, experienced erectile dysfunction and loss of libido 11 years after commencing treatment.
- A 2003 study funded by Merck showed that in the first year of treatment, 15 percent of men taking X tablet for an enlarged prostate (the drug’s other approved use) reported sexual side effects.
- George Washington University published an assessment of 71 X tablet patients who reported long-term sexual side effects that persisted after
Discontinuation of the drug. These side effects persisted for an average of 40 months after the end of treatment.
- By 2012, the FDA published results that identified persistent sexual dysfunction of at least three months in 14 percent of the 421 evaluated cases.
- According to the American Urological Association (AUA), erectile problems affected 8 percent of men on X tablet.–The AUA clinical practice guideline states that 5 percent of men taking X tablet experience a loss of libido.
- In one study, X tablet led to a decrease in ejaculatory function in week 26 and week 52 of treatment, according to results of a sexual function inventory.
- According to the AUA clinical practice guideline’s review of 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor trials, 4 percent of men taking X tablet experienced some ejaculatory disorder, compared with 1 percent of men taking a placebo.
- Irwig, M. and Kolukula, S. (2011, June 8). Persistent Sexual Side Effects of X tablet for Male Pattern Hair Loss. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21418145
- Abdulmaged, M., et al. (2010, December 22). Adverse Side Effects of 5-Alpha-Reductase Inhibitors Therapy: Persistent Diminished Libido and Erectile Dysfunction and Depression in a Subset of Patients. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.02157.x/pdf
- FDA. (2010, December). Propecia Drug Label. Retrieved from http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2011/020788s018lbl.pdf
- Sifferlin, A. (2012, August 28). Hair Loss Drug May Reduce Libido. 5.Morrow, D. (1999, March 19). New Profits in Old Bottles; Companies Find Bonus in Drugs That Cure Several Ills. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/19/business/new-profits-in-old-bottles-companies-find-bonus-in-drugs-that-cure-several-ills.html?pagewanted=all