Vaniqa
Description:

• Eflornithine interferes with a chemical in the hair follicles of the skin. This results in slower hair growth where eflornithine topical is applied.
• Eflornithine topical is used to reduce unwanted facial hair in women. Eflornithine topical does not permanently remove hair or "cure" unwanted facial hair. Eflornithine topical will help you manage your condition and improve your appearance.
• Eflornithine topica...

Detailed Consumer Information:
Vaniqa

Vaniqa Skin Cream
Active Ingredients: Eflornithine Skin Cream
Representative Names: Vaniqa Skin Cream

What is eflornithine skin cream?
What should my health care professional know before I use eflornithine skin cream?
How should I use this medicine?
What if I miss a dose?
What other medicines can interact with eflornithine skin cream?
What side effects might I notice from using eflornithine skin cream?
What should I watch for while taking eflornithine skin cream?
Where can I keep my medicine?

What is eflornithine skin cream? (Back to top)
EFLORNITHINE (Vaniqa™) is a cream applied to the skin to reduce unwanted facial hair in women. Generic eflornithine skin cream is not yet available.

What should my health care professional know before I use eflornithine skin cream? (Back to top)
They need to know if you have any of these conditions:
• an unusual or allergic reaction to eflornithine, other medicines, foods, dyes, or preservatives
• pregnant or trying to get pregnant
• breast-feeding

How should I use this medicine? (Back to top)
Eflornithine skin cream is for external use only; do not take by mouth. Follow the direction on the prescription label. Apply a thin film of cream to the affected areas of the face and chin twice a day (at least 8 hours apart), or as often as directed by your physician. Rub the cream in thoroughly. Do not wash the treatment area for at least 4 hours after application of the cream. Wait a few minutes after applying eflornithine cream before you apply cosmetics or sunscreens. Eflornithine cream does not permanently remove unwanted facial hair. Continue to use your normal method for hair removal until desired results have been achieved. Do not use your medicine more often than directed.

What if I miss a dose? (Back to top)
If you miss a dose, just apply your next scheduled dose when it is due. Do not use double or extra doses.

What other medicines can interact with eflornithine skin cream? (Back to top)
• Eflornithine cream is not known to interact with any other medications.

Tell your prescriber or health care professional: about all other medicines you are taking including non-prescription medicines; if you are a frequent user of drinks with caffeine or alcohol; if you smoke; or if you use illegal drugs. These can affect the way your medicine works. Check with your health care professional before stopping or starting any of your medicines.

What side effects might I notice from using eflornithine skin cream? (Back to top)
Side effects that usually do not require medical attention (report to your prescriber or health care professional if they continue or are bothersome):
• skin redness
• folliculitis (hair bumps)
• stinging or burning
• rash

What should I watch for while taking eflornithine skin cream? (Back to top)
Improvement of the condition occurs gradually. Improvement may be seen in 4 to 8 weeks. If there is no improvement after 6 months, discontinue use. About 8 weeks after stopping treatment with eflornithine cream, the hair will return to the same condition as before treatment.

Where can I keep my medicine? (Back to top)
Keep out of the reach of children in a container that small children cannot open.

Store at room temperature, 15—30 degrees C (59—86 degrees F). Throw away any unused medicine after the expiration date.

Vaniqa
Vaniqa (pronounced “VAN-i-ka”) is a prescription cream applied to the skin for the reduction of unwanted facial hair in women ages 12 and older. For unknown reasons, Vaniqa does not work for everyone.

You'll have to get a prescription from your doctor. Some insurance policies do not cover Vaniqa.

Effectiveness: About 58% of women who tried Vaniqa in clinical trials had improvement. The other 42% had no improvement.

This medication is not a depilatory, but rather appears to retard hair growth to improve the condition and the appearance of some consumers. You will likely need to continue using a hair removal method (e.g., shaving, plucking) in conjunction with Vaniqa. It will usually take 2 months of treatment before you see if it works or not. If you stop taking Vaniqa, your hair may come back to previous levels within 2 months after stopping.

The active ingredient in Vaniqa is eflornithine hydrochloride. It inhibits an enzyme that affects hair growth, called ornithine decarboxylase (ODC). Clinical data indicates that taking an oral version of the drug can affect hair growth.

Vaniqa became available on July 31, 2000. Originally made by Bristol-Myers Squibb in a partnership with Gillette, it is now a separate company under the name Women First Healthcare.

Vaniqa website

Clinical data

Eflornithine hydrochloride inhibits an enzyme which has been observed to affect hair growth in rats [3]. Regulation of this enzyme, called ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), was later shown to reduce hair growth in mice [4] and sheep [5]. Recent studies suggest observations in certain types of mice may have parallels in humans. [6, 7]

This drug has been found to be an astonishingly effective cure for some types of African "sleeping sickness," even able to cause a rapid and complete recovery in comatose patients. [8] Clinical reports show that taking it orally to treat sleeping sickness can induce hair loss as a side effect. [9]

One large published study on safety found the product rarely caused significant side effects such as acne, follicle irritation, itching or dryness. [10]. This corroborates unpublished data submitted to FDA showing about 2% of subjects discontinued use due to adverse reactions. [11]

Unpublished efficacy data submitted to FDA observed about 58% of women using it on facial hair had improvement. [11] This study suggests it may be particularly effective in postmenopausal women.

See my Vaniqa clinical data pages for more on effectiveness and side effects.

Proof of how hard it is to judge effectiveness

Perhaps the most striking result was how many women in the control group (who used cream with no active ingredient) were observed to have less hair. Of 201 patients, over one-third who used a placebo were assessed by physicians as either “improved” or “marked improvement.” [11]

This huge number of “false positives” means two things for consumers seeking hair removal:

It's really hard to tell if a new hair removal product is effective or not, especially based on the personal experiences of just a few people.

It's really easy for quacks to exploit this difficulty and make overblown claims about products they promote.

That's why you should rely on large-scale controlled studies to determine if a hair removal product is effective.

A note on internet marketing of Vaniqa

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