Prospective Cohort Study on the Effects and Tolerability of Flutamide in Patients with Female Pattern Hair Loss

April 2011 in “ Annals of Pharmacotherapy ”

Roberto Paradisi, Eleonora Porcu, Raffaella Fabbri, Renato Seracchioli, Cesare Battaglia, Stefano Venturoli

flutamide female pattern hair loss FPHL androgens alopecia

Studysummary This study found that long-term flutamide treatment reduced hair loss in women with female pattern hair loss, but liver-related dropouts were minimized at a very low dose of 62.5 mg/day. Our plain-language summary of this paper — not a Tressless recommendation.

This document is a prospective cohort study on the effects and tolerability of flutamide in patients with female pattern hair loss (FPHL). The study included 101 women diagnosed with FPHL who received reduced doses of flutamide annually for four years. Both groups of patients under the therapy with flutamide demonstrated a marked reduction in the values of alopecia after 12 months compared with the baseline values. The maximum effect of the drug was after two years and was maintained during the two following years of treatment. The androgens were suppressed markedly during the treatment. During the first year of treatment, 4% of the patients abandoned the study due to liver disorders associated with the drug. The study concluded that flutamide is a satisfactory long-term therapeutic regimen for FPHL, and the use of very low doses (62.5 mg/day) is associated with good liver tolerance and high compliance.

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