A comparison of an herbal drug and 2% minoxidil solution in the treatment of the androgenetic alopecia

Introduction: Androgenetic alopecia is a very common disease. According to some reports, up to 96% of people have some form of this disease. In this paper we compared the effect of an herbal drug composed of the urtica dioica, chamomilla, thymus vulgaris, equisetum arvense and foeniculum vulgare with 2% Minoxidil solution in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia Materials and Methods: We evaluated 82 patients suffering from androgenetic alopecia in a double blind prospective study. We counted terminal and vellous hair in 1 square centimeter of the predetermined area of scalp before and after treatment. After 6 months of treatment, the results were evaluated Results: According to our findings, herbal drug and Minoxidil were effective in regrowthing the hair (45% vs., 35% respectively) and there were no meaningful differences between efficiacies of these two drugs Conclusion: Herbal drug can be used as an adjunct or as an alternative to Minoxidil for treatment of the androgenetic alopecia