I'd be carerful about Xandrox:
"Xandrox is one of the more popular topical treatment for hair loss forumulated by Dr. Lee. Xandorx is basically 5% (or higher) topical minoxidil with azelaic acid. If you pay attention, your Xandrox contains more than just minoxidil and azelaic acid, there is also Betamethasone.
Betamethasone is a kind of corticosteroid. This is mainly used to reduce scalp inflammatory conditions, such as itch and flakes etc. For those who have been using Rogaine or topical minoxidil, scalp irritations or scalp inflammation is a very common side effects. And yes, you can lose hair as a result of scalp irritations.
Now recently, Dr. Pickart discussed Betamethasone in detail and explained why it should not be included in hair products.
Dr. Pickart is the inventor and the world's leading authority in copper peptides technology - one of the greatest discovery for skin repair and tissue regeneration.
Here's according to Dr. Pickart :
Quote:
"Xandrox consists of 5% to 12% Minoxidil, Azelaic Acid and Betamethasone Valerate. The latter is a corticosteroid included to counteract the effect of the Azelaic Acid which often causes skin irritation. Even with the steroid, many people still have severe flaking of their scalps when using Xandrox. Azelaic Acid,
which is similar to retinoic acid, is normally used to treat acne and does have hair promoting properties in combination with minoxidil. Success rates on hair growth up to 70% are claimed but there are no independent controlled studies on Lee's products.
The real problem with this therapy is what happens with long term use? The long term use of corticosteroids on skin inflammations is usually disastrous with severe skin thinning and chronic skin damage because the corticosteroids inhibit the natural skin repair processes. Systemic absorption of topical corticosteroids has
produced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis suppression, manifestations of Cushing's syndrome, hyperglycemia, and glucosuria in some people.
Persons using Xandrox should be evaluated periodically for evidence of HPA axis suppression by using the urinary free cortisol and ACTH stimulation tests.
Some Xandrox users have said that the amount of corticosteroid is too low to matter. But this is not true. Corticosteroids exert their typical actions at 10exp(-11) molar concentration. For a corticosteroid of 300 molecular weight, this amounts to a concentration of 3 X 10exp(-9) grams per liter or about 210 nanograms for the entire body. If you put 1 milliliter of a solution containing only 0.1% corticosteroid, the corticosteroid you are putting on your scalp is 1 milligram,
or 1,000 micrograms or 1 million nanograms. Since corticosteroids easily cross the skin barrier and enter the body and you are putting 1 million nanograms of your scalp daily, and only 210 nanograms are needed to activate corticosteroid effects, it is inevitable that after long term use of the Xandrox, you will have put sufficient corticosteroids into your body to cause serious damage.
Furthermore, long term corticosteroid use can promote diabetic conditions, thymus involution (accelerates aging), immune suppression, muscle wasting, the spread of cancers, bone damage, and cataracts.
It is estimated that 5,000 hip replacements yearly in Canada are due to overuse of corticosteroids.
So what happens if you grow beautiful hair with corticosteroids? As you crawl into bed to show off your gorgeous physical attributes to your loved-one or intended-to-be loved-one, you may have trouble seeing through the developing cataracts on your eyes and the insulin injections to control the corticosteroid-induced diabetes will have left needle tracks over your arms. The muscle wasting and fragile bones will slow your movements and anything more physical could put you at risk for broken bones. Bed partners are only impressed by hair in combination with a beautiful, healthy body.
Why is nothing done about excessive and dangerous corticosteroid use? The situation is very similar to that of cigarettes and pesticides 30 years ago. Honest scientists and physicians expressed their alarm at future dangers, but social inaction and powerful business interests blocked action for many years."
End Quote
For those who are on Xandrox or would like to try Xandrox but are concerned, there are a couple of options. The easiest is to simply leave Betamethasone out of Xandrox. You can request that when you place your order with Dr. Lee. In fact, they have been filling non Betamethasone Xandrox ever since the first day they introduced Xandrox. So just let Dr. Lee's office know and they will accomodate your request. Since we all have different tolerance levels for topical minoxidil, you may not necessarily experience scalp irritations using Xandrox without Betamethasone. However, in the event that you develop scalp irritations because of Xandrox, you may either scale down the amount that you use every day or add Folligen to counteract the side effects. For more info about Folligen, please see Cyber Conference on Copper Peptides Technology."