Rogaine is a powerful hair loss prevention drug that was first released in 1988. In fact, Rogaine was the first product approved by the Food and Drug Administration to be released specifically to treat hair loss and thinning in both men and women. It went through years of clinical research and testing before being released to the public.
What is Rogaine made from?
Rogaine gets its powerful effects from a drug called minoxidil. It comes in the form of a lotion and is applied to the scalp area by rubbing a small amount into the skin. The good thing about Rogaine is that it is colorless and odorless. No one around you will be able to tell that you have a medicated product for hair loss rubbed into your scalp.
If Rogaine came out in 1988, why was minoxidil already on the market?
For those of you who know the history of Rogaine and its amazing active ingredient, minoxidil, you’re probably wondering why minoxidil was being sold as a prescription drug long before Rogaine was released in 1988. This is where the history of Rogaine gets interesting.
Minoxidil was already on the pharmaceutical market and was being sold in pill form. Individuals need a doctor’s prescription to purchase Minoxidil. Ironically, this drug was used to treat people with high blood pressure. The product through which these pills were sold was named Loniten.
How the high-blood pressure drug Loniten gave birth to Rogaine
As mentioned above, Loniten was taken by many patients to lower their blood pressure. And guess what was the main ingredient in this prescription pill? Minoxidil.
After enough patients took this product, they felt relieved that their blood pressure was being treated, but they began complaining to their doctors about an interesting side effect: hair growth!
Now I wouldn’t really call this a negative complaint, because patients who were experiencing hair thinning or bald patches noticed an increase in new hair growth on parts of their scalp that many years prior had completely lost their hair. Had gone bald.
Lots of hair growth!
Unfortunately, the new hair growth wasn’t just related to the scalp. People who were taking a prescription drug for high blood pressure, Loniten, also experienced unwanted hair growth on other parts of the body. He could see new hair growing on his arms, back, chest, legs, everywhere! At first doctors were very excited to find a solution to hair growth, but this excess hair growth caused problems.
rogaine is born
As the old saying goes, with every problem is the seed of a great solution. Doctors and researchers quickly turned to this unwanted hair growth side effect as a result of taking Loniten, which as you know contains the active ingredient minoxidil. What they did do was find a topical lotion made from minoxidil that could be applied separately to the scalp area.
This new lotion form would have the ability to grow hair only on the top of the head without affecting the rest of the body. The results turned out to be an extraordinary success for this new hair loss prevention product called Rogaine.
Source by Sam Turner
