Getting help with hair loss treatment
My husband is lovely in all ways, helpful, caring, and takes great care of his appearance. But he’s not a spring chicken anymore, and he’s getting upset about his receding hairline. He doesn’t want to end up like the guy in the photo, so I logged onto the Public Health Forums site to find out more about the types of help he can get for treating hair loss.
Getting help for hair loss over the counter
Minoxidil, previously used as a treatment for high blood pressure, can be really helpful for re-growing hair according the the forum.
Hair growth was a known side-effect for some time, and the ingredient is used in Rogaine. But what was tried very recently, in 2007, was a 5% solution of Minoxidil in foam form. This apparently worked great, though it’s unknown how it acts to re-grow hair exactly.
The benefit of Minoxidil compared to Rogaine is that side effects are minimized - a topical solution, unlike a foam, can easily cause an itchy scalp. Or even acne. So for my husband, using Rogaine was out as he’s got sensitive skin anyway.
With a foam, there are no side-effects according to users, and it’s available to buy both as a spray and a foam. The Minoxidil foam is the more easily used form of hair loss treatment available over the counter. There is also evidence that female hair loss can be treated and reversed with these products.
You can find more information about Minoxidil hair loss treatments at publichealthforums.com.
Alternatives for prescription-only treatment of hair loss
The other commonly used active ingredient for male hair loss treatments is Finasteride, which is found in Propecia. It’s in common use, and it works pretty well for men. Finasteride has no effect on female hair loss though and is known to cause birth defects in babies.
What’s scary about Finasteride, except the dangers that a woman accidentally takes the drug, is that Finasteride may pass into the semen of men, but Merck states that a pregnant woman’s contact with the semen of a man taking Finasteride is not an issue for concern. Also, there are a number of claims that there are irreversible sexual side effects in patients using Finasteride / Propecia, and this is under examination by the Swedish medical board.
Definitely not a risk I would like my husband to expose himself to!
The other possible side effects of this drug is a link to depression. This is a well proven side-effect and that alone is a good reason to stay well away.
I’d prefer a bald man to having a husband suffering from the above side-effects!
What my husband will do
Now that we have all this information about how to treat my husband’s receding hairline, we’re going to get him some Minoxidil foam. What’s recommended by the Public Health Forums site is Provillus and we’ll give that a try.
My impression of Public Health Forums
I like the Public Health Forums site. It’s a little thin in places, and I used Wikipedia to help complement my research into hair loss treatments for my husband. What was really good is that I could get started in just a couple of minutes once I found the site, and get the basic info very clearly and simply.
That let me get my questions onto paper for further research and finding out what to do very fast. For example, without the Forum, I’d not thought that an effective treatment was available without a prescription and my husband could have ended up depressed and with sexual side-effects! How horrible!
Public Health Forums has now earned a place as one of the first places to go to for medical and health-related information.
