A Cross-Sectional Randomized Comparative Study of Topical Minoxidil Solution With and Without Finasteride in Male Pattern Androgenetic Alopecia in South Indian Patients
January 2018
in “
International Journal of Research in Dermatology
”
TLDR Adding finasteride to minoxidil solution for hair loss treatment didn't show extra benefits, just increased cost and fear of side effects.
In this study, the researchers aimed to determine the efficacy of topical minoxidil solution with and without finasteride in treating male pattern androgenetic alopecia. They randomized 300 subjects into two groups and treated one group with 0.1% topical finasteride with 5% minoxidil solution, while the other group received only 5% minoxidil solution. The analysis of the extent of bald area, hair count, and number of terminal hair showed no significant difference between the two groups. Therefore, the researchers concluded that adding topical finasteride to the minoxidil solution did not provide any additional therapeutic benefit and only increased the cost and unnecessary fear of sexual side effects in patients.
