Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine

Title abbreviation: Adv Clin Exp Med
JCR Impact Factor (IF) – 1.736
5-Year Impact Factor – 2.135
Index Copernicus  – 168.52
MEiN – 70 pts

ISSN 1899–5276 (print)
ISSN 2451-2680 (online)
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Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine

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doi: 10.17219/acem/157990

Publication type: review

Language: English

License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)

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Nobari NN, Roohaninasab M, Sadeghzadeh-Bazargan A, et al. A systematic review of clinical trials using single or combination therapy of oral or topical finasteride for women in reproductive age and postmenopausal women with hormonal and nonhormonal androgenetic alopecia [published online as ahead of print on March 10, 2023]. Adv Clin Exp Med. 2023. doi:10.17219/acem/157990

A systematic review of clinical trials using single or combination therapy of oral or topical finasteride for women in reproductive age and postmenopausal women with hormonal and nonhormonal androgenetic alopecia

Niloufar Najar Nobari1,A,D,E,F, Masoumeh Roohaninasab1,A,B,D,E,F, Afsaneh Sadeghzadeh-Bazargan1,B,E,F, Azadeh Goodarzi1,D,E,F, Elham Behrangi1,B,C,E,F, Farahnaz Nikkhah2,E,F, Mohammadreza Ghassemi1,B,C,D,E,F

1 Department of Dermatology, Rasool Akram Medical Complex Clinical Research Development Center, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Rasool Akram Medical Complex, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Female pattern hair loss (FPHL) is a hereditary form of hair loss in women and the most common patterned progressive hair loss in female patients with androgenetic alopecia (AGA). One of the best methods for treating hair loss in women is the finasteride treatment. This systematic review includes a summary of the pharmacology of finasteride and the effect of the drug on women, especially those in the menopausal age group, and is aimed at elucidating methods of preventing systematic side effects. A search of all published literature from 1999 to 2020 has been conducted with the use of PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, TRIP Cochrane, as well as Cochrane Skin databases. A total of 380 articles were found, of which 260 articles were removed and 87 review studies were excluded. Lastly, full texts of 33 original articles were reviewed and 14 articles that met the inclusion criteria were selected. Ten out of the 14 articles reported a high rate of alopecia recovery in women taking finasteride. Based on the results, it can be stated that 5 mg of oral finasteride per day could be an effective and safe treatment in normoandrogenic women with FPHL, especially when used in combination with other drugs, such as topical estradiol and minoxidil. We also found that topical finasteride is more effective than other topical formulas for treating hair loss.

Key words

oral, FPHL, finasteride, topical, female pattern hair loss

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