Betamethasone Dipropionate Prescribed for Treating Hair Loss?

Hello Doc, I am an underweight person (25 years,55kg ,height 176cm)of South Asian origin and i don’t have a family history of hairloss. All my siblings have great hair but I have been loosing hair since last two years.I tried Fin but it gave me the side effect even with the lower doses(o.5mg).I started using minoxidil(5%) a month ago but the loss hasn’t reduced a bit. My dermatologist has advised me to use betamethasone dipropionate (0.05%) on effected area. What’s your take on it? Should i use betamethasone dipropionate lotion or not coz after few applications it appears that the loss rate has gone up instead of decreasing.

I can’t give you specific advice about what medication is right for you for multiple reasons, but the main one being that I do not even know what you have. What is your diagnosis for the hair loss? Do you have male pattern baldness (MPB), or do you have an autoimmune problem?

Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (minoxidil) are the only proven drug treatments for MPB. They are not perfect and by no means a complete cure, but they do work if given time. I don’t know how long you were taking finasteride, but you’ve only used minoxidil for a month and that’s simply not enough time to see any benefit.

Corticosteroids like betamethasone (marketed as Diprolene or Diprosone) are used to treat psoriasis and other skin irritations, but have never been proven to help with MPB. In fact, it might make your hair loss worse. I’ve written about betamethasone before here.

If you need a second opinion, I would make an appointment with a doctor who can explain these things to you in detail.