Flutamide Hair Loss Remedy

Many men and women suffer from baldness. Although it doesn’t pose any fatal threat, it can be especially detrimental to one’s sexuality.Existing remedies forhair loss vary greatly, from surgical hair restoration to herbal medicine.Anti-androgens are usually used to treat common hair loss in both genders, most popular of which are spironolactone and finasteride.However, there is a less-prescribed hair loss remedy that despite the lack of scientific proof poses the same or even greater potential than finasteride or spironolactone.Common Baldness or Androgenetic AlopeciaReferred to as common baldness, androgenetic alopecia or pattern baldness is a hair loss condition primarily caused by the androgen called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is formed when the enzyme 5-alpha reductase converts testosterone.DHT binds with the androgen receptors in the hair follicles in which case, it builds up excessively to block the blood flow to the follicles. This will result in the malnutrition of the follicles. In effect, hair follicles would produce effete hair and eventually hair loss occurs.Flutamide Hair Loss RemedyAnti-androgen therapies are often administered to treat DHT-induced hair loss in men and women. Common anti-androgen therapies include the use of finasteride, spironolactone, dutasteride, and cyproterone acetate.Flutamide is a nonsteroidal anti-androgen prescribed less frequently by dermatologists for the purpose. Historically introduced to treat prostate cancer, flutamide works by competing with testosterone and DHT for binding to androgen receptors.Side effects of flutamide include blood in the urine, breast growth, decreased sex drive or ability, diarrhea, hot flashes, inflamed prostate, nausea, rash, rectal bleeding, and vomiting.Flutamide is not recommended as a hair loss remedy for women however. Because it is not an approved drug for this purpose, little is known about its efficacy in treating female pattern alopecia.In one small-scale study, flutamide reduced female alopecia following Ludwig grades by 21%. In another study of transplanted human hair on mice, topical flutamide was effective in increasing hair length and diameter. Besides these studies, however, no clinical evaluation has been conducted about flutamide’s effects on human hair.