The Latest on Hair Loss Treatments

Black men and women often experience the most common type of hair loss: androgenic alopecia. However, hair loss may also be due to a number of other disorders, including central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia, traction alopecia, and pseudofolliculitis barbae. Some of these forms of hair loss can be resolved with lifestyle changes, while others require treatment with medications.

No hair loss treatment starts working immediately. This delay in effectiveness is well known, but it also comes with a less known side effect. In order for treatments to make new hairs grow, they have to push out old hairs first, causing hair shedding. When caused by a hair loss treatment like finasteride, this side effect is often called finasteride shedding.

Microneedling for hair growth has become increasingly popular. It's usually performed alongside another hair loss treatment, like platelet-rich plasma therapy, or after applying a topical product like minoxidil. Studies have shown that this procedure is helpful in combination with other hair loss treatment treatments, but using microneedling as a stand-alone treatment has still not been studied extensively.

Finasteride is the only oral medication that's approved to treat androgenic alopecia. However, it's also used to treat enlarged prostates. The cost of finasteride can vary depending on a number of factors, ranging from your insurance provider to what the drug has been prescribed for. But in general, it's more costly to buy brand-name products than generic versions of this medication.