An Open,
Randomized, Comparative Study of Oral Finasteride and 5% Topical
Minoxidil in Male Androgenetic Alopecia
Ercan Arca, Gürol Aç kgöz,
Halis Bülent Ta tan,
Osman Köse, Zafer Kurumlu
Department of Dermatology, Gülhane Military Medical Academy, School of
Medicine, Etlik-Ankara, Turkey
Dermatology 2004
Background and Aim: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is undoubtedly
the most common form of hair loss in males.
It is a condition which may cause cosmetic and psychosocial problems
in androgen-dependent cases. In this open, randomized and comparative
study we evaluated the efficacy of oral finasteride and 5% topical
minoxidil treatment for 12 months in 65 male patients with mild to
severe AGA.
Methods: We randomly assigned 40 (61.53%) patients to receive
1 mg/day oral finasteride for 12 months, and 25 (38.47%) patients
applied 5% topical minoxidil solution twice daily for 12 months.
Results: There were no significant differences between the 2
groups considering age, age of onset of hair loss, family history and
type of hair loss (p > 0.05).
In the clinical evaluation at the endpoint of treatment, the clinical
cure rates (i.e. increased intensity of hair) were 80% (32/40) for the
oral finasteride group and 52% (13/25) for the 5% topical minoxidil
group.
Encountered side effects were all mild, and there was no need to stop
the treatment. In the group given oral finasteride, side effects were
noted in 7 patients: 6 patients suffered from loss of libido, and 1
patient had an increase in other body hairs; irritation of the scalp was
seen in 1 patient in the group administered 5% minoxidil.
These adverse events disappeared as soon as the treatment was
stopped.
The laboratory data on both drug groups did not show any
statistically or clinically significant intragroup changes from baseline
values to the endpoint (p > 0.05), except the level of serum total
testosterone which was increased, and free testosterone and serum
prostate-specific antigen in the finasteride group which were
statistically decreased from baseline values to the endpoint (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: In this comparative study of systemic finasteride
and topical minoxidil, it was concluded that both drugs were effective
and safe in the treatment of mild to severe AGA, although oral
finasteride treatment was more effective (p < 0.05).
Adverse events were not considered important either, and these side
effects disappeared as soon as the treatment was stopped.
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