Avacor and DHT effects

Avacor is sold to treat androgenic alopecia, the very common inherited form of balding that affects both men and women. The ads talk about dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a hormone formed from testosterone, as the substance believed to be largely responsible for balding by causing hair follicles to shrink. (One approved drug for hair loss, finasteride—brand name Propecia—is known to act on DHT.)The Avacor pills are supposed to block the effects of DHT on hair follicles. It’s hard to figure out exactly what’s in Avacor, since the label uses obscure names to hide common herbs, but the pills contain a hodgepodge that includes ginkgo, horsetail, bilberry, and saw palmetto. Of these, only saw palmetto might help against baldness, since it appears to have some of the same effects in the body as finasteride and may affect the production of DHT. However, even if saw palmetto did help, you have no idea how much is in Avacor.

The lotion for the scalp also contains a long list of questionable or indecipherable ingredients. The only one that counts is minoxidil, though it’s hidden behind its chemical name. Yes, that’s the FDA-approved hair-loss drug (brand name Rogaine, see below), now sold over the counter at about $10 to $20 for a month’s supply. Minoxidil may help some people grow a little hair, but its success rate is far less than the 90% claimed for Avacor. And minoxidil is hardly "natural."