This is the medication that started it all. You probably know it as Rogaine, a topical medication you can get over the counter to help regrow your hair. Some of you have tried it and didn’t feel like it worked at all. But do you know how it works and how long you have to use it to even begin to see results?

Minoxidil comes in three different forms. A topical liquid, a topical foam and an oral pill version. The topical liquid and foam versions are readily available over the counter and are applied twice daily to the areas where you want to see improved density of your hair. The pill version is available by prescription and is a once daily dose .

All three versions of the medication aim to increase blood flow to your scalp and shorten the amount of time your hair is in its resting phase. This can cause the currently miniaturizing hairs to reverse course and begin to grow thicker and for a longer period of time. This in turn helps you have less signs of balding.

Minoxidil when used alone needs to be used consistently for about 4 to 6 months before there are signs that it is working. The main definition of successful use of minoxidil is that your hair loss slows down or even stops. But a good portion of men and women in the early stages of hair loss should see an improvement in the density of their hair up to about a year after starting minoxidil. After that the medication needs to be used consistently to maintain results.

I have to take them forever?

No, just for as long as you care about having your hair. Your genetic hair loss is going to be a life long condition but luckily it won’t kill you. So in that case we only need to treat it for as long as you care about having hair. If you only want to have hair until age 35 and you’re 20 years old, well, then you’ll need to take it for about 15 years.

These two medications are going to put the brakes on your hair loss in a major way and unfortunately when you stop taking them, mother nature takes back over and you eventually begin losing hair at the rate that you did before you started the medications. Contrary to popular belief you do not lose all of your hair over night and you won’t lose more hair than if you had never started these medications.

Despite how you might be feeling about these medications we have yet to have a patient come through our door that regrets starting minoxidil and finasteride in one form or another. These medications have even helped some of our patients avoid a hair transplant all together.

If there is one medication to choose for your hair loss it would be finasteride. Why? Because it blocks the root cause of why your hair is falling out. It blocks the 5-alpha- reductase enzyme that converts Testosterone to Dihydrotestosterone (DHT: It is not a DHT blockers as some people commonly refer to it as).

Finasteride, also known as Propecia comes in a 1 mg tablet form and blocks about 70% of the receptors that cause your hair to begin falling out. This results in a reversal of the miniaturization process and about 65% of men will see some improvement in the density of their hair after about 4 to 6 months of using the medication. It is unpredictable how much hair you will get back using finasteride but full effect is seen at one year and then from there the results need to be maintained with continued use of the medication.

Finasteride is prescribed as a once daily oral medication however, Dr Pearce formulates special dosing regimens for his patients based on consultations due to the risks of daily finasteride use. When taking finasteride seven days a week there is a 3 to 5% risk of side effects such as erectile dysfunction, decreased libido, or even decreased volume of ejaculate. Other side effects can include testicular soreness, gynecomastia or possibly elevated liver enzymes. While this all does sound concerning, with customized dosing of this medication Dr Pearce is able to help you get all the benefits of finasteride with little risk of side effects. So you get to keep you hair and your libidio.