Study and prioritization of effective materia medica used in the treatment of hair loss in Islamic and Iranian traditional medicines

Background and Purpose:

Nowadays, hair loss is a prevalent and universal problem. Using traditional medicine resources to find appropriate remedies for hair care is a good approach to produce effective natural products. Persian medicine contains a vast knowledge, which is not only helpful in diagnosing, preventing and treating disease, but also includes valuable experiences and studies about using different herbs in cosmetic applications, such as healthiness of hair and curing its disorders. This article introduces materia medica mentioned in Islamic and Persian medicine as a hair loss treatment.

This is a library study based on the review of traditional Persian medicine books. We extracted effective drugs for hair loss treatment mentioned in Al Qanun-fi al-Tibb, and then searched in four authoritative reference books of traditional medicine (Al-Abnyia 'an Haqa'iq al-Adwiya, Tadhkirat Ulil al-Albab, Tuhfat ul-Momineen, and Makhzan al-Adwiya). The research steps included finding keywords, searching in the resources, generating unitized lists, finding synonyms, and finally, summarizing, scoring, and prioritizing.

 In this study, the 24 materia medica -derived from plants, animals or mineral resources- were found as hair loss cure. Based on the obtained scores, Myrtus communis L., both Adiantum capillus-veneris L.and Ziziphus spina-christi L.; and Ladan, both Trigonella foenum-graecum L. and Lepus earned the highest score respectively in the table. 

The list of drugs collected in this study can be considered as a basis in further basic and clinical studies to design and produce effective herbal drugs in treating hair loss.