If you’re bald and are afraid to try surgical approaches to the problem, there is another possible solution. It goes by the name of minoxidil and it may help in some cases.

Unlike other quack cures, minoxidil is the only medication approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of baldness. This drug, which was discovered by Upjohn researchers, is mixed in an alcohol-based solution and can either be sprayed or rubbed on the scalp.

Minoxidil has been around since 1979. It was originally marketed in tablet form to treat hypertension. Those who took minoxidil orally, however, soon developed hairs on various parts of the body, especially on the forehead and upper cheek. This led Upjohn researchers to develop a two percent topical solution for baldness which was approved by the FDA in 1988.

But even before FDA approval, minoxidil was already being marketed for baldness in 40 countries. Many doctors, anxious to get hold of this "wonder" drug, began prescribing minoxidil to equally anxious patients without knowing its long term effects.

"A 1985 survey conducted among US dermatologists found that 72 percent were already prescribing minoxidil for hair loss. Such wide acceptance by dermatologists suggested a vote of confidence - a confidence no doubt inspired by the outcome of an Upjohn-sponsored minoxidil trial," according to the editors of Consumers Union's “The New Medicine Show.”

In that trial, 2,300 patients were treated with minoxidil at 27 medical centers across the United States. Most of the subjects were men aged 18 to 49. All were in good health and applied minoxidil on the scalp twice a day for a year.

It didn’t take long before the results were in: after four months, a third of patients developed various degrees of hair growth.

"Among those using a two percent minoxidil solution for one year, eight percent were described as experiencing dense new hair growth, and 31 percent moderate new hair growth. The remaining 61 percent showed little or no new hair growth," said the editors of “The New Medicine Show.”

Other researchers were not convinced with the Upjohn trial and called the test results very optimistic. In a 1987 article published in the British medical journalThe Lancet,three European dermatologists who evaluated the Upjohn studies said that for "90 percent or so" of men with hair loss, minoxidil "does nothing."

Critics also pointed out that the participants in the trial were mostly young men with small areas of baldness - the kind of subjects who were most likely to respond favorably to the drug.

“By confining the participants to men who were relatively young, not completely bald, and not bald just at the temples, the Upjohn study guaranteed a better result than would have been the case if men of all types of baldness had been enrolled at random,” said the editors of “The New Medicine Show.” (Next: Is minoxidil safe?)

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