The medical term for non-illness related hair loss or inherited baldness is "androgenetic alopecia". In men, it is called "Male Pattern Baldness" and usually progresses to the familiar horseshoe-shaped fringe of hair. This is the most common form of hair loss, representing close to 95% of all cases of hair loss in men. And about half of all men experience male pattern hair loss by age 50.

Adults lose about 10,000 scalp hairs every day. Hair normally lives for around five years. With Male Pattern Baldness these hairs do not always get replaced and gradually bald areas appear. Usually, Male Pattern Baldness is caused by heredity, hormones and age. Genetic makeup determines if hair follicles are sensitive to the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which causes them to shrink.

In many cases, it is possible to slow, stop and reverse the Male Pattern Baldness process. This can be done surgically - through hair transplantation - or through new medical drug treatments like:

Propecia is the first and only medical treatment approved by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to treat Male Pattern Baldness. Propecia works by inhibiting the formation of DHT (dihydrotestosterone). Produced by Merck & Co, controlled clinical studies show that 66% of men with Male Pattern Baldness who take Propecia, regrow hair as measured by actual hair counts over time. Read more Buy Propecia online.

Avodart is a new medicine by GlaxoSmithKline which contains the active ingredient Dutasteride. Originally developed for treating prostate enlargement, Avodart has highly positive effects in reversing hair loss and encouraging hair regrowth. However, it has only passed stage II of FDA testing for the treatment of hair loss in men. Nonetheless, Avodart has been shown to decrease levels of DHT by about 30% more than Propecia. Read more Buy Avodart online.