What natural treatments? Side effects?

[alanrudy]

Why couldn't capsaicin upregulate VEGF in Dermal papila cells. I'm not sure yet, but I think I will try The Natural's regimen.

[FlightTL]

What about applying pure Aloe Vera Gel directly to your scalp and letting it sit there for a while before washing it off. Aloe Vera is an anti-inflammatory agent.

[BGP]

Alanrudy,

Did you have problems with the conventional treatments such as minoxidil / finasteride? I'd recommend talking to your doctor about those.

I'm not going to say no natural treatment will work but you have the choice of products whose efficacy is supported by scientific evidence, vs an unknown array of potential garbage. If any natural treatment did have anywhere near the same efficacy of minoxidil / finasteride, everyone would know about it.

Also, there's a huge fallacy that natural things are automatically safe. Cyanide is natural too

By the way, please don't feel I'm trying to be harsh towards you, I really do wish you the best of luck and hope you find something that works.

[alanrudy]

Hi BGP, fair points. I started having some of the sides with Fin when I started taking it about 10 years ago and decided it wasn't worth it to me. I also tried Min for a while, but was hard to keep up because it wasn't foam at the time and I shave my head so it was a mess. Also a little worried about Min because I do exercise a lot and am a little worried about some of the sides related to that.

I think I just have had good experiences overall with natural products so I guess I am biased towards them and I feel a big reason there is scientific evidence for these drug products is that it's big money owning a patent for a drug that is effective. It's a business and these pharm companies pay big money for scientists, marketing, etc. IMO, there are probably natural treatments that are effective, but what would be the payoff to these drug companies if they found out a relatively inexpensive product they can't patent works?

[new bubble]

Hi BGP, fair points. I started having some of the sides with Fin when I started taking it about 10 years ago and decided it wasn't worth it to me. I also tried Min for a while, but was hard to keep up because it wasn't foam at the time and I shave my head so it was a mess. Also a little worried about Min because I do exercise a lot and am a little worried about some of the sides related to that.

I think I just have had good experiences overall with natural products so I guess I am biased towards them and I feel a big reason there is scientific evidence for these drug products is that it's big money owning a patent for a drug that is effective. It's a business and these pharm companies pay big money for scientists, marketing, etc. IMO, there are probably natural treatments that are effective, but what would be the payoff to these drug companies if they found out a relatively inexpensive product they can't patent works?

your absolutely spot on, drug companies want to make money so natural remedies are useless to them

[Clinicspots]

While approval for use to grow scalp hair will depend on the upcoming phase 2 clinical trial results (and hopefully Allergan will decide to fund further phase 3 clinical trials), Bimatoprost has already been FDA approved for use in humans for:
1. Glaucoma and ocular hypertension treatment, approval in 2001 (brand name Lumigan). Dosage = 1 drop of Lumigan 0.01 percent or Lumigan 0.03 percent depending on source, once daily.
2. Eyelash growth (lengthening) treatment, approval in 2008 (brand name Latisse ). Dosage = 1 drop of Latisse 0.03 percent, once daily.
Bimatoprost Side Effects
Although there are some significant side effects (e.g., darkening of iris, undereye, eyelash and eyelid), that can occur when using Bimatoprost for the above applications, most seem to be reversible. It is also great to know that people have been using this product in such a sensitive areas as the eye for over a decade now without any large-scale reports of major injuries, nor any class action lawsuits against Allergan