P#40  Folliculogram demonstrates more anagen hair roots in male androgenetic alopecia after one year treatment with finasteride 1mg/d

Dominique Van Neste. Skinterface, Tournai, Belgium

Folliculograms were performed after one year follow-up of a scalp target site of male subjects with androgenetic alopecia (AGA) using repeat - phototrichograms (PTG (1)) during treatment with finasteride (F; n=6) or placebo (P; n=9). As compared with visible hair counts on PTGs, there were 25 % more hair roots in folliculograms. Finasteride treated scalp contained more thick anagen roots (F / P ratio: +144 %) and a higher % of growing hair (85 % thick; 70 % thin) as compared with placebo (62 % thick; 50 % thin). There were also more visible anagen hair on macrophotographs of the tattooed sites (4mm diameter; F / P ratio: +120 %) and on those of the 1cm2 target sites (F / P ratio: +114 %) i.e. an almost two - fold increase over the baseline F / P ratio (+65%). This indicates that finasteride improves AGA by increasing the duration of growth phase in thick hair follicles and by reverting hypotrophic resting hair follicles into the growth phase where they produce thicker and longer hair. (1)Br J Dermatol 2000 Oct;143(4):804-810