Hello Doctor,

I’ve always enjoyed reading your blog. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

I’ve been getting my Propecia delivered in the mail via Walgreens for quite some time. I’ve always taken the Merck brand, but was surprised to see my refill was something called “Dr. Reddy’s Finasteride” made by an Indian company. The cost for 90 tablets was $183, which seems a bit high for generic.

Walgreen’s never notified me that they were changing my prescription from Merck to Dr. Reddy. Also, I’m concerned with the shipping of this product overseas and the possible very hot climate in transit. If the temperature in transit were to get into the 90’s or higher, it could be problematic for the medication.

I’d love to hear your opinion on this new generic brand that seems to be out on the market and what we should expect as a cost for a generic version. Thank you!

We previously wrote about the generic Propecia finally being sold in the US in a couple of posts —

• Generic Propecia (1mg Finasteride) Now Available in the US?
• More Info on Generic Propecia in the US

The cost will remain on the higher side for at least 6 months, because Dr. Reddy’s has an exclusive window to sell the generic 1mg finasteride. Once other manufacturers are able to sell their generics, I would expect the price to come down.

Dr. Reddy’s is an Indian pharmaceutical company, but they do have manufacturing facilities in the US (I’m not sure which facility their finasteride is made in, though). I would think safeguards are in place during shipping of medication to maintain proper temperatures in transit, and everything that they do is over-viewed by the FDA.

Dear doctor, I am 30 years old and development of my secondary sex characteristics was always far behind persons of same age. My beard is still not fully developed, I have hairs around my chin and under nose, but almost nothing on cheeks and around ears. I have first noticed starting hairloss about the age of 28 and I started with finasteride treatment. Could this drug affect my beard developing and slow down this process yet more?

Finasteride does not affect beard hair. I wouldn’t expect you to finally start growing a beard at 30 years old (with or without finasteride). Some men just have patchy facial hair, and that is your genetics.

You can consider doing a hair transplant to your face where the beard is not present if it’s bothering you that much.

Hi Doc,

I am already on Finasteride 1 mg. I had bought Minoxidil for application on temple region. Since i am not able to maintain the medication schedule (twice a day forever till one wants to maintain hair), i discontinued after applying for 5 – 7 days. I plan to apply it whenever my busy schedule permits me (maybe once / twice a week during weekends).

Do you think there would be any benefits in doing so OR would i be doing more harm than good (like accelerated hair-loss for the first few days while applying Minoxidil)? Thanks.

A couple things that should be pointed out —
1. Minoxidil is indicated for top/crown hair loss. It really does not work all that well for frontal hairline or temple areas.
2. Minoxidil is recommended for use twice a day everyday for several months before you see some improvement.

If you know the two facts above, you can make an educated and informed decision about whether random applications to an area that the medication isn’t intended to regrow hair in will be beneficial for you or not.

I’m 33 years old and have been using Propecia for about 5-6 years with great results. my hair on top of the head regrew almost completely. three months ago in order to save costs, instead of using Propecia, I started dividing a generic Finasteride 5mg into 4 pieces and take a quarter daily. Ever since then ive started noticing that im losing hair again. this may or may not be related to Finasteride and could be down to the fact that the drug itself may have stopped working for me.

Ive introduced Minoxidil Foam Extra Strength twice daily and will use Nizoral 2% 3 times a week but I’m a little anxious about this and wanted you opinion. do you think i should go back to Propecia or perhaps take 2.5mg daily of Finasteride, or alternatively start taking Avodart?

Many thanks for your help

As you know, the medication in Propecia and the 5mg generic are the same, just different dosages. Cutting the 5mg pill shouldn’t produce anything different from the 1mg name brand pill. I guess you could go back to trying the name brand Propecia to see if that makes any difference, but I would be surprised if it did.

Many men use minoxidil and finasteride at the same time, and I suppose you can add Nizoral to your regimen. One thing that I should point out about using a bunch of daily treatments is the financial commitment you’ll need to make to continue these for life.

As for whether you should take Avodart (dutasteride) or increase your finasteride dosage, that is something you’ll need to talk to your prescribing doctor about.

Hello doctor,
I am a 19 year old student suffering from hair loss since I was around 17. As you would know this is normally a very young age to begin losing hair. My mothers side of the family unfortunately seem to have the baldness gene, with all of her brothers being bald.

I recently saw a doctor whilst abroad who confirmed for me that I was indeed losing my hair and that I was beginning to thin around the sides. He recommended and prescribed Tricovivax to me. I wanted to know whether it would be safe for me to use especially at my age and whether or not I should begin to try it.

I have been using Alpecin caffeine shampoo but that doesnt seem to be doing anything at all to be honest, My hair gets greasy very very quickly and I normally have to wash it once a day, I also tend to find I have a dry skin on my scalp after I wash it. I am considering starting propecia but am worried of the side effects. Please advise, any information would be highly appreciated. Thank you

Tricovivax is just a brand name of minoxidil sold in some international markets. Minoxidil is also known as Rogaine or Regaine, depending on where you live. At 19 years old, I don’t see a problem with you using minoxidil. It works best in the crown, but I don’t know where your hair loss is.

I wouldn’t expect caffeine shampoo to do anything to treat hair loss.

Hello,
I am a 19 year old male, I noticed my hair started thinning 1.5 years ago after starting college. I do a lot of aerobic sport and I think that I have a balanced and healthy diet.

Since 5 months I’ve been on Propecia prescribed to me by my dermatologist. Since then I haven’t seen any difference in the amount of hair I lose everyday, although during exam periods with a lot of stress, I seem to lose more hair than usual (this over a period of 4 weeks).
Since starting, the top of my head has thinned quite a bit to the point that you can see parts of my scalp under light.

A lot of the hair I lose (other than thick hair) seems to be new hair (thin hairs, with “pointy” ends). I notice small bulbs on many hairs too. I also have a tiny bit of dandruff in my hair since starting propecia. Ever since I started losing my hair, each time I run my hand through my hair I get 3-4 strands… This is on any part of my head (sides, back, top).

I wanted to know if Propecia is working for me or if there a way to check if I am responding to the medication? Thank you

In general, Propecia takes about 6 to 12 months for one to see the effect. You can also continue to lose your existing hair while on Propecia, and one must remember that the medication is not a cure and it does work better in some patients (each patient is different).

If you want to know if Propecia is working for you, follow up with your doctor. Hopefully, there were some good pictures taken before you started and maybe even miniaturization and bulk measurements were documented, which are scientific ways to determine if the drug is working. Otherwise, it is just a guess and your own subjective opinions.