Table 1.

Advantages and disadvantages of various treatments for androgenetic alopecia

Therapy method		Therapeutic effect	Advantage	Disadvantage	Reference
Surgical therapy	Hair Transplantation	Different degrees of shedding in the early postoperative period, no obvious effect can be seen until 6–9 months after the operation	Effective, Security	The high cost, Limited hair follicles	[66] [67]
	Microneedle	Hair density and diameter increased	Security, well tolerated	The pain is intense, a risk of infection	[68]
Drug therapy	Finasteride	Take orally 1 mg daily. Generally, hair loss decreases after 3 months	The incidence of adverse reactions was low and mild	Individual patients appear libido loss, impotence and ejaculation reduction, easy to relapse after drug withdrawal	[69]
	Minoxidil	Hair growth is significantly increased, hair loss is reduced, 5% formula is more effective	Effective promotion of hair regeneration, high safety	Dermatitis, headache and hypertrichosis as well as poor dependence, easy to relapse after drug withdrawal	[70]
Herbs therapy	Oral and Topical	Prevent and slow hair loss	High compliance, less side effects, wide spectrum of activity low price, wide range of use	Active ingredients are uncertain, plants and formulations are not standardized	[57]
Other therapy	Platelet plasma rich	After 6 months of subcutaneous injection, the average number and thickness of hair increased significantly	Minimally invasive, fewer safety issues and side effects	Preparation methods, frequency of treatment, and area of treatment have not been standardized	[71]
	Laser therapy	Promote hair regeneration alleviate hair loss, hair luster significantly improved	The laser comb is convenient and easy to operate	Transient hair loss during the resting period may occur at the beginning of treatment	[72]
	Stem cells	Promotes the proliferation of hair follicle cells	Economy, effective	Large, more robust double-blind controlled clinical trials are lacking to further evaluate the exact mechanism, therapeutic potential and safety of stem cell-based hair treatments	[12]