Do Minoxidil shots with needles usually help this kind of thinning hair on hairlines? (Photo)

Question

Jeff Rapaport, MD · Answer

Recent reports from Europe have substantiated injectable minoxidil. Reports from Australia have suggested that oral minoxidil at one-tenth the dose is effective. You need to see a hair loss expert to determine if these treatments will be of value to your  hair loss condition.PRPHairMd.com

Jason Emer, MD · Answer

This requires an in-person evaluation. In our practice, we use prp and progesterone injections to the scalp and get good results for hair growth. I suggest seeing a hair loss expert now to evaluate and go over your condition and provide you information about your best treatment options. See an expert. Best, Dr. Emer

Amiya Prasad, MD · Answer

Thank you for your question. You submitted a close-up photo of what appears to be your frontal hairline at the part. You’re asking if minoxidil injections typically help this area of the frontal hairline.
 I can share with you the basis for the use of minoxidil and how I approach hair loss in our practice. A little background: I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon. I have been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years. Hair loss is a big part of my practice, and I’m the founder of TrichoStem™ Hair Regeneration Centers - this is a non-surgical solution we developed using Acellular matrix and PRP for hair loss for both men and women without surgery.
 I think it’s interesting you are asking about minoxidil injections. As you may be aware, minoxidil originally was used for hypertension. It was noticed in the 1980s there was stimulation of hair growth with this drug, so the rest was history and the topical form was developed. Basically it was applied once a day to stimulate some growth and prolong the growth cycle of thinning hair. It has been a successful way to manage hair loss, but it doesn’t stop the progression of hair loss.
 For years, people tried different ways to further enhance the absorption of minoxidil. This includes different formulations where the top layers of skin was tried to be broken down, or thinned out so more is absorbed. Often, customized formulations include topicals such as retinoids to help improve absorption. There are also methods with microneedling to further enhance absorption. Undoubtedly, there’s going to be some thought of doing injections.
 The challenge is how sustainable are these treatments? How often will you get injected to sustain growth? Your concern is about the frontal hairline, but most often, frontal hairline thinning is a reflection of more diffused thinning. So, how many places can you inject, and how sustainable can this be?
Currently for hair loss in men, there are Propecia or finasteride which is an oral drug, topical minoxidil, and hair transplant, and we’ve developed a category called Hair Regeneration which I’ll discuss again further. For women, it’s minoxidil and nothing else other than surgery, and Hair Regeneration.
 Hair Regeneration evolved out of our desire to improve outcomes of hair transplants. With hair transplant, there is a lot of frustration with the yield of the grafts in terms of the numbers of hairs that survived, and the proper healing of the donor area. A side-effect was noticed where thinning hairs in some patients got thicker. We started this about 7 years ago, and through a very rigorous process of analysis and development, we created a protocol for different types of hair loss based on gender, degree of hair loss, age of onset - essentially an algorithm. We’re injecting a combination of Acellular matrix, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), vitamin for both men and women with androgenetic alopecia or genetic pattern loss with the highest level of success. With this injection, we have observed that the hairs sustainably grew and stayed constant for over 5 years. We continuously evolved and improved our algorithm and process, but a single set of injections at one visit was very effective. 
When it comes to other types of injections like minoxidil, you’re likely going to need that monthly, and in the outer limit, every 3 months. The same goes for routine PRP injections, platelet-rich plasma.
Hair Regeneration is a combination of Acellular matrix which is a wound healing material. This is based on very advanced stem cell technology used for other areas of surgery to improve wound healing, and the use of platelet-rich plasma derived from your own blood. PRP is a concentration of the wound healing and growth factors necessary to heal a cut.
We’ve evolved into a level that I think is the next level of medical care which uses your body’s own ability to heal, and to manipulate what appears to be pathways of hair growth in the physiology of hair.I’m not saying it’s a perfect solution for beyond 5 years, but compared to what is currently available, it’s extremely effective. With both men and women, we’re seeing over 99% success in terms of stopping hair loss progression, reactivating growth, and prolonging hair growth cycles so hairs continue to grow, but doesn’t require constant treatment. 
I think it’s important as you’re exploring injections as a category, to learn about the different modalities. Always ask the question how frequently you need injections to sustain growth. I will tell you that a lot of our patients come to us after they’ve tried other modalities with injections. For example, if they’re going for PRP injections, they’re getting them once a month, and after 4 months, they start feeling  they don’t know where their end point is, and how long they can take getting poked in the scalp. It’s very important to understand that, and what kind of real outcomes you can achieve.
There’s more opportunity for you to do research, and once you have completed the acquisition of knowledge, you should move forward and meet with doctors to learn about your options from them, and the specifics of what you can expect for your situation. It’s very important to make sure you also have the right diagnosis before you move along with the treatment. I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck, and thank you for your question.This personalized video answer to your question is posted on RealSelf and on YouTube. To provide you with a personal and expert response, we use the image(s) you submitted on RealSelf in the video, but with respect to your privacy, we only show the body feature in question so you are not personally identifiable. If you prefer not to have your video question visible on YouTube, please contact us.

William Rassman, MD (retired) · Answer

It is not clear if you are a male or female so it is difficult to make a recommendation for treatment

Do Minoxidil shots with needles usually help this kind of thinning hair on hairlines? (Photo)

Answers (4)

Answer: Thinning

Answer: Thinning

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Do Minoxidil shots with needles usually help this kind of thinning hair on hairlines? (Photo)

Answers (4)

Answer: Thinning

Answer: Thinning

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Everything you need to know about Hair Loss Treatment

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