A vasodilator used on the scalp (over the counter) and, off-label, as a low-dose prescription tablet for pattern hair loss.
- What are the side effects of minoxidil, and can oral minoxidil affect your heart? Minoxidil tablets are a blood-pressure drug whose US label carries a boxed warning for fluid around the heart (pericardial effusion, sometimes tamponade) and worsening angina; use for hair loss is off-label, and studies of low doses describe mostly mild effects but rare serious heart events. Do not start or change minoxidil without a doctor, and if chest pain, a racing heartbeat, breathlessness, fainting, swelling or rapid weight gain develop, stop and seek medical care.
A prescription blood-pressure and diuretic drug with anti-androgen effects, used off-label mainly by women for pattern hair loss.
Baricitinib is a JAK inhibitor FDA-approved in 2022 for adults with severe alopecia areata, where about a third of trial patients on 4 mg regained most scalp hair. It carries an FDA boxed warning, and hair loss usually returns when it is stopped.
A prescription estrogen hormone that is not approved for hair loss. Evidence that it regrows hair is weak, and it carries serious whole-body risks, including a US boxed warning.
Technique that makes tiny skin punctures; studied mainly as an add-on to minoxidil for pattern hair loss, with low-quality evidence. No device is FDA-cleared for hair loss.
