antifungal with some anti-androgenic benefits, often used as a shampoo
a nonsteroidal anti-androgen, most commonly used orally for women
powerful topical and oral anti-androgen used mostly by women
glaucoma medication with hair follicle stimulant effects
- Is Finasteride unbeatable or are there equally powerful alternatives? Trials report finasteride as the single medication with the strongest measured effect in male androgenetic alopecia, while dutasteride, minoxidil, topical finasteride, PRP, LLLT and microneedling all have supporting studies and are often reported to work better in combination. Finasteride, dutasteride and oral minoxidil are prescription-only, and several of these uses are off-label.
- Does hair strand thickness decrease in men with androgenic alopecia? Can finasteride help restore it? Androgenic alopecia thins hair strands by miniaturizing follicles. The pivotal finasteride trials (1,553 men, 1 mg/day, two years) report increased hair counts and improved assessed appearance, but they measured density, not the diameter of individual strands, so the effect on thickness itself is not established.
a topical anti-androgen with less systemic involvement
