What Your Doctor Didn’t Tell You about Hair Loss Pills

A lot of men are willing to spend $20,000 on their hair doctors just to get the plugs on to conceal their source of insecurity -- baldness. Baldness has remained incurable to date, however, science has seen to it that it doesn’t remain a very troublesome problem. Nowadays, there are ways to make the problem manageable. One of the conventional hair loss treatments is finasteride. 

Finasteride is an FDA-approved orally administered medication prescribed for men with androgenetic alopecia or pattern baldness. There is enough scientific proof to suggest that finasteride is indeed effective. But as famous as its efficacy is the notoriety of its side effects. 

Finasteride works at a molecular level, explaining its efficacy. Finasteride is a selective inhibitor of the enzyme 5-alpha reductase, selective since it only blocks type II 5-AR. Type II 5-AR is believed to be the immediate culprit of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) formation since it acts upon testosterone with the intent to convert it into DHT. 

DHT build-up causes certain hair follicles in the scalp to miniaturize. DHT binds with the androgen receptor sites in the hair follicles cells, altering the hair protein synthesis. Miniaturized hair follicles fail at producing healthy, normal hair. In effect, new hair that grows is thinner and shorter. Eventually, when these hair follicles are left without intervention, they will atrophy -- and complete baldness can ensue. DHT build-up will eventually affect all sensitive hair follicles in the scalp, causing almost total baldness in the scalp except in the sides and the back.

Administering finasteride has been observed to be effective. However, there are risks entailed. Finasteride is a very aggressive drug and it interferes with testosterone production. This is the reason it produces long-term, if not permanent sexually related side effects including  loss of libido, erectile dysfunction, genital numbness, dulled orgasm, decreased arousal and even impotence among others.

When hair loss is a problem, one should not resort easily to drastic measures like taking strong pills or going under the knife. A safer yet no less effective a treatment is saw palmetto. Although considered as the herbal counterpart of finasteride, saw palmetto does not interfere with testosterone production — the reason it doesn’t produce any nasty side effects.

Saw palmetto extracts come in forms of liquid extracts, capsules, tablets, or topical applications. Learn more about the wonders of saw palmetto, For more information please visit www.leimo.com


Read more about Nonsurgical Solutions to Hair loss