A RANDOMIZED,<b> PROSPECTIVE, SINGLE-BLIND CLINICAL TRIAL: COMPARATIVE </b>STUDY OF COMPARING THE EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF DIFFERENT MINOXIDIL FORMULATIONS IN TREATING ANDROGENIC ALOPECIA

Background: Pattern hair loss or androgenic alopecia (AGA) is a widespread condition (that affects both men and women) and it may cause a great deal of physical and psychological discomfort. The condition in men is normally expressed through Hamilton-Norwood scale that illustrates a foreseeable arrangement of bitemporal and vertex hair thinning. Diffuse thinning of the crown area sparing the frontal hairline is common in women in AGA as observed in the Ludwig scale. Prevalence studies show that one out of every three to four men and one out of every three women may get AGA at some point in their lives. Objectives:  The main objective of the study is to: compare the efficacy and safety of different minoxidil formulations (e.g., . 5%, foam vs. 5%liquid form) in treating androgenic alopecia Material & Method: The present study was a prospective, randomized, comparative, single-blind clinical trial conducted at the Buner Medical Complex, Buner, following approval of the research protocol by the Institutional Ethics Committee. The study duration was 12 months, including recruitment, intervention, and follow-up periods. Before enrollment, all participants were adequately informed about the study objectives, treatment protocol, follow-up schedule, and potential adverse effects of the interventions. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to inclusion in the study. All the statistical analysis was done by use of the SPSS software (version 23). The data was summarized in terms of descriptive statistics, such as mean, standard deviation, frequencies, and percentages. The student t -test on continuous normally distributed variables and Mann Whitney U test in nonparametric data were used to compare the two treatment groups. The Chi-square test or the Fisher exact test was used to analyze categorical variables based on the test type suited in each case. The p-value below 0.05 was statistically significant. significant for all tests. Results: The results of this randomized comparative trial prove that 5% minoxidil foam and 5% minoxidil liquid solution are effective treatment methods that can be used to manage androgenetic alopecia (AGA) in male patients. There was very close similarity between the two formulations in the measurement of improving hair diameter and similar though slightly differentiated effects on hair density. Both the treatment groups demonstrated statistically significant changes in hair diameter and hair density in terms of improvement of hair diameter by about 12.4-12.6 percent and hair density by 2.4-3.1 percent at the baseline to 12 weeks. Notably, the high baseline homogeneity of the two treatment arms reduces the risks of internal validity in the study that the observed results are because of treatment and not due to the differences in baseline homogeneity. Conclusion: This studty illustrates that 5 percent minoxidil foam and 5 percent minoxidil liquid solution are both effective and well tolerated interventions that result in statistical and clinically significant effects on hair diameter and density after 12 weeks. Although the efficacy of both formulations showed a similar degree of efficacy on hair shaft thickening, there was a tendency towards more density gain and the patient satisfaction with the foam formulation being slightly higher than with the lotion formulation, which points to potential practical benefits. Overall, both formulations are valid, evidence-based therapeutic models, and the choice of the formulation is most effectively determined by the specifics of the patient, his preferences, and treatment goals. These observations support the long-standing status of minoxidil as a first-line treatment of androgenetic alopecia.