For a number of years frontal hair loss was viewed differently than hair loss in the crown area. Of the "Big Three" hair loss treatments, which consist of finasteride, minoxidil and Nizoral shampoo, only Nizoral was believed to be effective in fighting frontal hair loss. But studies have shown finasteride and mixoxidil to be effective in treating frontal hair loss, as well.
Finasteride
Finasteride is sold under the Propecia name for treating hair loss. Propecia is simply a 1 mg tablet of finasteride. It was the second hair loss treatment option approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
While Propecia was believed to have little effect on frontal regions of the scalp, a study that appeared in the June 1999 "Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology" showed some encouraging signs for those suffering from frontal hair loss.
The study, conducted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, concluded that 1 mg finasteride slowed hair loss and promoted hair growth in the anterior/mid-scalp region.
Minoxidil
Minoxidil, which was the first drug approved by the FDA to treat hair loss, makes no claim to treating frontal hair loss. But at least one researcher, Elise Olsen, professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center, believes that minoxidil works on the entire scalp.
In the March 1, 2003, issue of "Dermatology Times," Olsen's paper, "Beyond the vertex: objective evidence shows minoxidil's frontal-scalp performance," and states than more than half of test subjects in a 48-week trial showed frontal scalp improvement when using 5 percent minoxidil, while 42 percent of those using 2 percent minoxidil showed improvement in the same area.
Olsen said that an absence of claims in treating the frontal scalp should not be seen as a confession that minoxidil does not work in that area. Instead, it's a case of the FDA not allowing claims of frontal hair growth when the study done for FDA approval targeted only the crown area.
Nizoral Shampoo
Nizoral is a bit of an oddity in hair loss circles, as it's widely used despite not having been granted FDA approval to treat hair loss. It does have clinical research in its favor, though, and has been shown in several studies to promote hair growth.
The most frequently cited study was conducted by the Department of Dermatopathology at the University of Liège in Belgium and the findings appeared in the journal "Dermatology." The study claimed that use of Nizoral gave similar results to the usage of 2 percent minoxidil.
References
- Hair Loss Library: Frontal Hair Loss, Temple Hair Loss, Receding Hairlines
- National Center for Biotechnology Information: Finasteride in the Treatment of Men With Frontal Male Pattern Hair Loss
- Stop Hair Loss Now: Beyond the Vertex Objective Evidence Shows Minoxidil's Frontal Scalp Performance
- PubMed: Ketoconazole Shampoo: Effect of Long-Term Use in Androgenic Alopecia
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