#hairloss - approach to a new promising treatment.

Hair loss is most commonly due to the so-called androgenetic alopecia, which is related to the excess of circulating androgens (males hormones).Treatment options are quite limited and include oral vitamin H (Biotin), topical minoxidil, and oral finasteride. When clinical treatments fail, the use of wigs or surgical hair transplantation may be required.

But good news are coming for those who suffer with androgenetic alopecia: a new drug, called LATANOPROST, has just entered in the therapeutic tools. Pharmacologically, latanoprost is a prostaglandin analogue which acts by dilating blood vessels. It is used as eye drops in the treatment of glaucoma. Surprisingly, it was noted that patients who were using the drops presented regrowth and thickening of the eyelashes.

Naturally it was questioned if this drug could also be used to promote hair regrowth in the scalp. A study was performed including 16 men with mild androgenic alopecia (Hamilton II and III). Latanoprost 0.1% was topically applied daily for 24 weeks on small areas of the scalp. Measurements of hair growth, density, diameter and anagen/telogen ratio were done.

The authors found promising results with statiscally significant increase in hair density in all treated subjects, when compared with their baselines. However, limitations must be considered: this research included only young individuals with mild baldness. 

Concluding and generally speaking, it is always a good idea to start treating androgenetic alopecia as early as possible, thus improving the prognosis.