A clinical study on the efficacy of minoxidil liniment in treating female pattern hair loss

Purpose: To investigate the clinical effect of low and high-dose minoxidil liniment in treating female pattern hair loss.Methods: A total of 280 female pattern hair loss patients admitted to the dermatology clinic of Lujiang County People's Hospital of Anhui Province, China from October 2020 to October 2021 were randomly divided into control and study groups comprising 140 patients in each group. Ludwig staging in the two groups included 35 cases of Type I, 80 cases of Type II, and 25 cases of Type III in control group; 40 cases of Type I, 74 cases of Type II, and 26 cases of Type III in study group. Control group was treated with 1 mL (7 sprays) of 2 % minoxidil liniment, twice daily for 6 months. Study group was treated with 1 mL (7 sprays) of 5 % minoxidil liniment. Efficacy of low and high-dose minoxidil liniment was determined according to the area and degree of hair loss before and after treatment, and the incidence of adverse responses was recorded.Results: After treatment for 3 months, the effective rates of control and study groups were 34.3 and 41.4 %, respectively. Effective rates of control and study groups were 57.1 and 72.9 % respectively after 6 months of treatment. There was no significant difference in effective rates after 3 and 6 months of treatment (p > 0.05).Conclusion: Both 2 and 5 % minoxidil liniments demonstrate clinical efficacy in female pattern hair loss in a dose-dependent manner.