The State-of-the-Art in the Management of Androgenetic Alopecia: A Review of New Therapies and Treatment Algorithms

In this study, low-dose oral minoxidil was found to improve hair density in 80% of pediatric patients with androgenetic alopecia or telogen effluvium, with mild side effects primarily reported.

This letter to the editor presents no new research results; it discusses a combination of dutasteride intralesional microinjections with oral minoxidil versus oral minoxidil alone for treating androgenetic alopecia in men.

This meta-analysis found that spironolactone use was linked to a decreased risk of prostate cancer but not to a significant risk increase for several other cancers, although the evidence certainty was low.

This meta-analysis reported that 0.5 mg/d of dutasteride significantly increased total hair count at 24 weeks compared to finasteride and minoxidil in men with androgenetic alopecia.

This study found that SAMiRNA-AR68, a nanomedicine targeting androgen receptor mRNA, increased hair counts in androgenetic alopecia patients with no observed side effects.

This study found that for treating androgenetic alopecia, LC hair essence serum injections provided excellent results with fewer side effects compared to botulinum toxin A, which also showed significant efficacy but with higher associated costs and more frequent side effects.

This study found that topical finasteride significantly increased hair count in men with androgenetic alopecia compared to placebo while maintaining similar efficacy to oral finasteride but with lower systemic exposure and a reduced impact on serum DHT levels, potentially minimizing sexual side effects.

This study found that oral setipiprant was safe but did not improve scalp hair growth compared to placebo in men with androgenetic alopecia.

This review found that oral spironolactone is an effective and well-tolerated treatment for androgenic alopecia in women, especially when used with topical minoxidil, with generally minimal side effects reported.

This study reported that while topical minoxidil exhibits hair regrowth in androgenetic alopecia, oral minoxidil 5 mg/day was more effective than topical forms after six months, with low doses also potentially effective for women and other hair loss types.

Botulinum toxin may help hair loss by increasing blood flow and reducing harmful factors.

This study found that while both cetirizine 1% and minoxidil 5% increased hair density in men with androgenetic alopecia, minoxidil showed a significantly higher improvement, and both treatments lost effectiveness after 8 weeks without use; cetirizine was well-tolerated with no significant adverse reactions.

In this study, low-dose oral minoxidil for hair loss was associated with infrequent systemic adverse effects, and only 1.7% of patients discontinued treatment due to these effects.

This study found that topical cetirizine treatment significantly improved hair regrowth and patient satisfaction in male patients with androgenetic alopecia compared to a placebo, highlighting its potential role in treatment.

This article describes the characteristics and management of hypertrichosis induced by low-dose oral minoxidil used for hair disorders, but reports no new clinical findings.

This study found that PRP injections using the Eclipse system significantly improved hair density and caliber in women with androgenetic alopecia compared to saline placebo at 24 weeks.

This systematic review found inconclusive evidence on the effectiveness of botulinum toxin for treating alopecia and highlighted the need for further prospective randomized controlled trials.

In this study, intradermal injection of botulinum toxin was associated with increased hair growth in men with androgenetic alopecia through the suppression of TGF-β1 secretion from dermal papilla cells.

This article discusses the potential of oral bicalutamide as a promising treatment for female pattern hair loss and reports no new clinical results.

This abstract discusses the efficacy of spironolactone, cyproterone acetate, and flutamide in treating female pattern hair loss, noting that flutamide use requires caution due to potential liver toxicity, especially at high doses.

This study evaluated oral dutasteride for male androgenetic alopecia in a real-world setting, reporting that it effectively improved hair conditions in 90% of patients using monotherapy, with a good safety profile, particularly at low doses.

This study found that platelet-rich plasma combined with topical minoxidil was more effective in increasing hair density for male-type baldness than either treatment alone.

This study found that combining poly-l-lactic acid microthread therapy with minoxidil improved hair density and appearance more effectively than minoxidil alone in women with androgenetic alopecia.

This study observed that low-dose oral minoxidil and topical minoxidil 5% solution both improved hair density in women with female-pattern hair loss, but oral minoxidil may offer advantages in reducing hair shedding.

Clascoterone safely promotes hair growth similar to minoxidil.

This review article provides an updated overview of the pharmacology, mechanism of action, clinical efficacy, and adverse events associated with topical minoxidil, a widely used treatment for androgenetic alopecia and other hair loss conditions, while noting that its exact mechanism is still not fully understood.

In this randomized, double-blind trial, researchers observed that low-level laser therapy led to significantly greater hair regrowth on treated areas compared to a sham treatment in patients with androgenetic alopecia over 24 weeks, suggesting it as a potentially effective and safe option.

This review identifies FDA-cleared home-use photobiomodulation devices for androgenetic alopecia treatment and highlights their excellent safety profile but notes the lack of long-term comparative studies.

This meta-analysis suggests that local injection of platelet-rich plasma for androgenic alopecia is associated with an increased number of hairs and some increase in hair thickness, though larger studies are needed for confirmation.

This article proposes a mechanistic model for how platelet-rich plasma therapy may stimulate hair growth in androgenetic alopecia by promoting vascularization and activating specific signaling pathways, but it reports no new experimental results.

This review discusses the role of Prostaglandin D2 and its synthase in androgenetic alopecia but reports no new clinical findings, suggesting pathways for future therapeutic development.

This study found that dutasteride increased hair growth and restoration in men with androgenetic alopecia more effectively than finasteride and was well tolerated over 24 weeks.

This study found that both finasteride and dutasteride effectively increased hair thickness in women with androgenetic alopecia over three years, with dutasteride performing better in women under 50 at specific scalp sites.

This study concluded that mesotherapy with a dutasteride-containing solution was the most effective option for treating androgenetic alopecia in males, promoting hair growth and reducing hair loss.

This study found that mesotherapy with a dutasteride-containing preparation improved hair growth indicators in female pattern hair loss better than saline, with minimal side effects and greater effectiveness in patients with shorter disease duration.

This study found that human hair follicles express ATP-sensitive potassium channels, suggesting that minoxidil acts on these channels and that drugs targeting them may treat hair disorders.

This study found that dutasteride increased scalp hair growth in men with male pattern hair loss, particularly at a 2.5 mg dose, and was more effective than finasteride over 24 weeks.

This study found that both finasteride and dutasteride act as slow, time-dependent inhibitors of steroid 5α-reductase type II, with dutasteride being more efficient, influenced by the enzyme's genetic variants.

In this study, finasteride 1 mg/day for 12 months did not improve hair growth or slow hair thinning in postmenopausal women with androgenetic alopecia compared to placebo.