Monthly Archives: November 2014

Rogaine for Women, Women's Rogaine

Rogaine for Women 5% Aerosol Finally Launched

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As of 2014, women can finally purchase the Rogaine 5% foam product. You can buy Rogaine for women from Amazon as well as from your local pharmacy (Walmart, Walgreens and more) shelf.

Historically, women were advised to use the 2% topical Minoxidil product, even though many doctors were willing to prescribe the higher dosage men’s product to females. I prefer the 5% foam product much more than the terrible itch-inducing and dripping-onto-face topical liquid 2% product. For some reason, the latter is still on sale everywhere despite its bad reviews. As an aside, make sure to read my post on extra strength Minoxidil.

Does Rogaine Work for Women?

Most men do see some benefit from Rogaine. I am certain that Rogaine foam has helped my hair become thicker (and also acts as a mild gel as a side benefit). See my post on how Minoxidil works to grow hair. However, I am fairly sure that women will not benefit from this product as much as men, since the hair that grows from it is usually tiny.

Nevertheless, maintenance of existing hair in and of itself is a great benefit if you are one of the lucky female beneficiaries. In any event, women’s Rogaine foam is definitely worth adding to your arsenal of products, since it is very cheap and now finally available in the easy to use 5% foam version.

Trials Find 5% Minoxidil to be Superior to 2% Minoxidil for Women

Over the years, there have been a number of clinical trials that have found 5% Minoxidil (main ingredient in Rogaine) to be superior to 2% Minoxidil in women. Here is one from 2004.

Also make sure to read the results section of this Johnson and Johnson sponsored 1-year trial of 5% Minoxidil foam versus 2% topical Minoxidil in women. The trial ended in 2014.

Women's Rogaine
Rogaine foam for women’s hair loss.

For more information on this product, you can go through the official official women’s Rogaine website section.

Joseph Greco, Platelet-Rich Plasma, PRP

Greco Medical Publishes PRP Study Findings

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Update: Based on a reader’s comment to this post regarding frequency of treatment, I contacted Dr. Greco and he said that he tries to get his hair transplant patients to get PRP injections once a year after the transplant. He uses a more purified version of PRP called CRP, and the details of that can be found on his website.

Greco Medical has been a long-time proponent of using platelet-rich plasma (PRP) during hair restoration procedures. In September 2014, The Journal of Dermatologic Surgery in the US published the largest ever PRP study related to hair. Dr. Joseph Greco was one of the four authors of this study.

I am impressed by some of the detailed content on there and they had both male (42) and female (22) participants. It does seem a bit limiting in that only “two independent evaluators” decided on the success or failure of the end results. The two before and after photos in there (female on page 1015, and male on page 1016) are impressive and in all likelihood among the best-case results.

According to the two evaluators, the overall proportion of patients seeing a clinically significant improvement at 6 months post PRP treatment was 40.6% and 54.7%, respectively.

As with low-level laser therapy (LLLT), I have also always been very skeptical about PRP. My skepticism for both has subsided in the past year or two as more supportive studies have come out and as more surgeons have started offering both LLLT and PRP. However, I am still not convinced that either of these technologies offers more than a limited improvement in hair quality and thickness for the average person.

It also does not help when most of these study authors include hair transplant surgeons who are already big proponents of PRP and/or LLLT in their practices. It would be far more believable if researchers, universities and companies that are entirely financially disassociated with PRP published such studies.