Guys (and Gals) We Didn’t Get the Memo! (After rubbing rogaine on our bald pates all this time : )

(We are supposed to take the pill!!!!!)

Minoxidil was approved in a lotion to help regrow lost hair for men in 1988, and for women in 1992.  It works by using enzymes present in hair follicles to break the drug down into an active form which stimulates the growth of new hairs.   But it must reach the scalp to work — which is often stopped by remaining hairs — and patients often dislike leaving it on their heads for at least four hours every day.

Doctors have found, however, that when the drug is taken orally as a pill it is still broken down into the active form that triggers hair re-growth.  The discovery was first made by Dr Rodney Sinclair, a dermatologist at the University of Melbourne, Australia, when he had a female patient suffering from pattern baldness who swore by Rogaine but started suffering an allergic rash to the lotion.

To remedy the situation, Sinclair cut minoxidil pills into quarters and offered these to the patient instead. The low dose allowed her hair to continue to grow but did not trigger the rash or affect blood pressure — another use for the drug.   Through testing he found that the drug remained effective when the dose was lowered to one-fortieth of that in the original pill, and then began prescribing it.

In 2015 he presented his findings to a meeting in Miami, after offering the pill to more than 100 successive women. He has now treated more than 10,000 patients.   Other doctors are now also following his lead, and prescribing the drug off-label to patients with pattern baldness. It will not work for those who are bald because there are no hair follicles left to stimulate.

Talk to your doctor about trying the oral form (and so will I)!!!!!!!

Source:  New York Times

Photo:  pexels.com