Balding or alopecia in men is a very actual problem that occurs in 75-90% of men. The thing is that men, unlike women, are likely to inherit the tendency to baldness.

How to deal with hair loss and is there a way to solve the problem once and for all?

You can find hair care medications at this section of our online drugstore but first let’s discuss the causes of baldness in men.

Causes of Alopecia in Men

There are many reasons for hair loss in men, but most cases of alopecia are caused by a limited set of factors:

- Infectious diseases. Both acute and chronic infections are accompanied by signs of general intoxication, and one of them is a weakening of the hair follicles. Infections of the scalp can also lead to hair loss - in particular, fungal infections.

- Stress. Nervous tension affects all body systems, including blood circulation: in a spasm, the vessels contract, the nutrition of the follicles is disturbed and, deprived of oxygen and nutrients, they die. However, it is worth knowing that hair does not begin to fall out at the time of the highest tension, but after about 2-5 months. Many manage to forget that almost half a year ago they had some kind of trouble, and hair loss seems unreasonable.

- Medications. There are a number of medicines, among the side effects of which are hair loss: antidepressants, hormones, steroids, diuretics, heparin drugs and many others.

- Endocrine disorders. Alopecia in men is often a consequence of thyroid disease. Moreover, alopecia is accompanied by both hyper- and hypofunction of this organ. With insufficient or excessive activity of the thyroid gland, alopecia areata develops, which leads to hair loss on certain parts of the head and the formation of round bald spots.

- Head skin and follicles injury. In the place of deep scars from burns, wounds or inflammations, the hair does not grow, since follicles can die with injuries. There is no cure for this type of alopecia in men, and only hair transplantation can correct the situation in this case. The injuries can conditionally be attributed to the constant tension of the hair, which damages the folicles. A tight tail damages the follicles, and the hair begins to actively fall out. Fortunately, in this case, it is enough to abandon such a hairstyle, and in a few months everything will return to normal.

- Lack of vitamins. The diet of a modern city dweller is poor in nutrients, since many busy people eat irregularly and inadequately, their diet lacks the necessary vitamins and minerals. A healthy but monotonous diet (for example, boiled chicken with the same side dish every day) can also lead to the fact that some trace elements and vitamins will be in excess, while others will be too few.

- Hormonal disorders. Male sex hormones, androgens, are one of the most common causes of alopecia in men. Alopecia of this type is a hereditary disorder, but in the very early stages, hair loss can be slowed down and even temporarily suspended. However, it is extremely difficult to completely cure alopecia caused by hormonal activity.

Treatment of alopecia in men

First of all, if you started losing hair excessively, you should go to your physician and do the basic blood tests. If they show any deviations from the norm, your doctor can suggest that you have a certain condition that requires treatment or appoint additional tests.

If the causes are stress, infectious disease, vitamin deficiency, and so on, hair falls out equally from the all parts of the head. In such cases, it is sufficient to eliminate the cause without doing anything special to the hair and it will stop falling out.

But there is a type of alopecia which is the most severe and widespread. It is pattern alopecia. It is called so because hair falls out in certain patterns – at the crown of the head and hairline (from the forehead). It is generally accepted that only 5% of the balding men are the first in the family who began to actively lose hair. In all other cases, the tendency to baldness is transmitted to a person from his father or mother (by the way, this happens 3 times more often).

This type of hair loss is caused by the excessive level of the active form of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, in the body. It is a hereditary form of alopecia which cannot be completely cured. Fortunately, you can stop hair loss and even enjoy the covering of the bald spots with new hair if you suppress dihydrotestosterone formation in the body.

Types of Alopecia

Hair and scalp health specialists named trichologists distinguish 4 types of hair loss:

- Androgenetic alopecia. Approximately 95% of cases of alopecia in men are caused precisely by hormonal imbalance. Excess dihydrotestosterone damages the condition of the follicles, stopping hair growth and leading to their loss. The hair in the frontal and parietal parts of the head is most sensitive to this hormone and falls out first. The tendency to androgenetic alopecia is inherited.

- Diffuse alopecia. If the hair falls evenly throughout the head, they talk about diffuse alopecia. This type of alopecia is characteristic of infectious diseases, lack of vitamins, thyroid diseases, stress and many skin diseases.

- Alopecia areata. This type implies the occurrence of several small foci of hair loss. The foci have a rounded shape and gradually increase and merge. A characteristic feature of this type of alopecia is hair loss not only on the head, but throughout the body. Most often, the cause of this phenomenon is autoimmune disorders.

- Cicatricial alopecia. Burns, abrasions and wounds, traces of inflammation and some skin diseases - all this leads to damage to the follicles. The hair follicles become inflamed and die, and their place is taken by connective tissue.

In addition to the type of hair loss, an important role is played by such a moment as the stage of alopecia - this factor largely determines the complexity of a particular case of baldness.

At our drugstore, you can buy the following medications aimed to help men with androgenic alopecia (pattern hair loss) to stop balding and re-grow hair:

- Finpecia (Finasteride) made by Cipla;

- Propecia (Finasteride) made by Cipla and Dr. Reddy’s;

- Fincar (Proscar) made by Cipla.

All of these medications have the same effect, they suppress a certain enzyme in the body that participates in the transformation of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone. If you are diagnosed with androgenic alopecia, you can buy any hair loss medication from our hair care section and use it but make sure to consult your doctor first to be sure that this drug isn’t contraindicated for you.

Adverse effects the medications based on Finasteride can cause

Drug-Related Adverse Experiences Year 1

Worth noting that during the 2-4 years of the medication use the numbers are much lower.

 Drug-Related Adverse Experiences years 2, 3 and 4