After using regaine foam extra strength for few years, am now told at over 49 years old i cant anymore. Any problems if carry on?
I do not know of any age limit for using Rogaine (minoxidil). The packaging may include information about studies being done on people aged 18-49, which just means that it wasn’t studied as a hair loss treatment for those 50+ (not that you necessarily have to stop at that age).
Doctor there was a topic about pro hockey player ryan getzlaf.
this is my question:
if ryan getzlaf had taken propecia at the first sign of hairloss, do you think he would still be to where he is today? or is there a good chance he could of of maintained what he had or freezed the hair loss clock by a decade or so?
my other question is: how come alot of people who show the first sign of hairloss dont go on propecia? I mean its proven to work, why not take it? how come they just let the thinning continue? I see alot of celebrities young males and pro athletes who are losing hair, and why not just take propecia? I mean they can afford it.
Propecia is an elective medication and it is only available after consultation with a physician after a good examination and understanding of its limitations, risks, and benefits. It may not always happen this way, but it should be. Propecia does not necessarily stop hair loss or reverse hair loss completely, but it does work to buy time for most. In the end, your genetic predisposition will eventually catch up and you may lose hair despite being on Propecia. This does not mean the medication is not worth taking or that the medication has stopped working.
Finally, it is not as simple as taking Propecia at the first sign of hair loss. You need to be followed by a doctor who can give you a Master Plan for the hair loss.
Hi,
I would greatly appreciate some feedback regarding my frontal hairline. It appears that my corners have thinned/ receded during the last couple years. I am 23 years old male. I’m concerned about my hair line at the moment and questioning what would be an appropriate approach to take. Would Propecia and Rogaine be a smart idea? I currently live in an area which does not have local access to a physician regarding hair loss, although this is something I’m looking into. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Click the photos to enlarge:
It does appear that you are experiencing early hair loss with a Norwood class 3 pattern showing at this time. There is erosion of the corner hairline with thinning present. At your age, the best treatment would be finasteride (Propecia or the generic form of it) as it would be likely to stop the process. Your family doctor can prescribe finasteride 5mg to you and then you would cut them into quarters and take 1/4 per day.
Do you think Propecia will ever be available over the counter, without a prescription? Isn’t that the next logical step now that finasteride 1mg is for sale as a generic?
I mean Rogaine is readily available at most pharmacies and even in the supermarket, and many other OTC medications have much higher risks of side effects than Propecia does. Thoughts?
I doubt Propecia will be available over the counter. It is a medication that really needs to be prescribed by a physician. It is only meant for the treatment of a specific kind of hair loss (androgenic alopecia) and may not be good for some women. There are many medications that remain prescription only, even though a generic is available.
Doc
Have you heard anything or have any idea when the phase 2 bimatoprost studies will be out?
Happy new year to you and your staff.
You’re referring to the study comparing bimatoprost and minoxidil for use on the scalp, which completed the phase 2 a few months ago. The results haven’t been posted yet, as far as I can find.
Check it our at the ClinicalTrials.gov site — Safety and Efficacy Study of Bimatoprost in the Treatment of Men With Androgenic Alopecia.
Hi Doc,
I have been taking Finasteride for about a year and a half now and within a few months of starting the drug I noticed that the hair on top of my head was getting thinner. I am 37 and have extremely slow hair loss since the age of nineteen, so after research I figured it was the “propecia shed” amd that it would grow back within a few months. Well, that was eleven months ago, and it still has not been restored to what it was before starting finasteride.
Anyways, I was hoping you could give me some advice on what to do. My doctor just basically said that all I can do is try Rogaine, but there are many reasons I don’t want to use it. Is there anything you could recommend by chance?
Thank-you
The only medicinal treatments I recommend for treating hair loss are minoxidil and finasteride, as they are the only ones proven to work.
I’m not sure what I can offer you advise-wise, considering you’re already under the care of a doctor and I don’t know anything about your medical history. You took finasteride because your hair was thinning — so is it possible that you were just a non-responder and your hair loss would’ve been progressing to this point even if you hadn’t taken finasteride? Did you have any additional stress in your life that could’ve caused it to occur?
I have just seen a dermatologist for the beginnings of female pattern hair loss. She has prescribed using 2% Minoxidil for 3 months to stimulate the hair regrowth I have noticed, but everything I have read about Minoxidil seems to say the stimulated growth will just stop as soon as I stop the product. The doctor said that wasn’t true. I don’t know what to do.
Your dermatologist is incorrect. Minoxidil should be used for life, or you will lose whatever benefits (regrowth) the medication provided. For best results, you should use it twice daily.
You can read more about minoxidil for women at the Rogaine site.
Just wanted to know, if finasteride supposedly regrows or maintains hair for men. Why isn’t it considered a temporary cure for hairloss?
Is this just a question about the nomenclature? A “cure” is defined as a complete or permanent solution, which means it wouldn’t be temporary.
If you take a medication to control your blood pressure, that wouldn’t be called a “temporary cure” for high blood pressure — and the same goes for a hair loss treatment like Propecia (finasteride 1mg). It is not a cure, but it does help reverse the thinning (initially), slow down the hair loss, or maintain what you have.
I started using Minoxidil yesterday. As I started getting grey hair since 25 years of age I have to dye my hair. I would like to know whether it is ok to dye the hair while using minoxidil and if so what precautions I should take ? Do I need to stop minoxidil for a few days after dying or I can continue as normal. Thanks
I would think that you’re fine to use minoxidil topical after you dye your hair. If you are worried, just wait one day. Otherwise you can read the medication’s instruction or call the drug company itself.
Doctor,
I’ve been on propecia daily for 9 months. however, I went to Spain for the weekend and forgot my pills. 48 hours+ from one pill to another. Will this alter its effectiveness in anyway?
Thanks
There is enough Propecia fixed to your hair follicles, which makes the 2 or 3 days you skipped OK. Just take it as normal when you’re back home.
I began losing my hair at 17 but brought it to an absolute stop when I began taking Propecia at 24. My hairline didn’t move an inch until I began taking Sertraline at age 36. However, I only lose hair when I ejaculate. I stopped ejaculating for three weeks and didn’t lose any hair. Once I did it again, I could see noticeable chunks missing from my hairline just like before.
I even switched to the antidepressant Viibryd to see if it made a difference but I still lost hair ONLY when I ejaculated. I stopped antidepressants completely for over a year, the hair never grew back but I didn’t lose any more hair. I eventually had to get back on Sertraline and the problem continued despite the fact that I have never missed one dose of Propecia, I take it at the same time every morning and never have anything but water when I take it.
Is there any way I can ejaculate without losing more hair?
Assuming you are serious about all this, I do not understand how ejaculation, Propecia, and your antidepressant are all related to hair loss. However, I will entertain your observation to be true and will give you a scientifically inspired answer.
I propose that you keep a precise data log and plot on a graph the number of hair lost versus amount of ejaculation over a period of time. By doing this, you may be able to see a pattern, such as an exponential or a linear relationship. If you can extrapolate an equation from this graph, it may give you a clue on how often you can ejaculate while minimizing the hair loss.
For all others reading this… ejaculation does not cause hair loss.
Hi Doc,
I’m 22-years-old and have been on Finasteride for a little over a year. I had my hair properly examined 4 months ago, and the doctor confirmed that Finasteride has increased my hair density significantly.
I just noticed little black hairs on my hairline. I’m wondering what they are? I don’t believe I had these hairs when I started treatment. Could these be miniaturized hairs that may eventually turn into terminal hairs? They seem a little dark to be vellus?
Thanks
P.S. You’re welcome to use these pictures on your blog.
Click the photos to enlarge:
Finasteride 1mg doesn’t usually regrow the frontal hairline or vellus hairs. With that said, everyone has vellus hairs at the hairline, so perhaps you are just noticing them for the first time as you are paying more attention to it. The only real way to tell is if you have a BEFORE photo of the same are. If your doctor does bulk measurements on your hair, it would determine if there is a reduction of hair mass, usually caused by genetic balding.
In early 2011 I had a rare adrenal tumor removed called a pheochromocytoma. Doctors also removed the affected adrenal gland the tumor was attached to. This type of tumor spontaneously, without provocation, releases epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine. Chemicals collectively referred to as catecholamines. These are your fight or flight chemicals and when the tumor releases them you feel very “wound up”. After the tumor was removed, my catecholamine levels went back to normal and I again felt normal.
In late 2011 I started Propecia. I started on .5 milligrams per day and later reduced that dose to .5 milligrams 3x per week, which I am currently taking. A dose much lower than the standard dose of 1 milligram per day. Almost immediately after starting Propecia, I began to feel like I did when I had the tumor. Spontaneously “wound up” even in the absence of external stimulus.
Recent testing reveals my catecholamine blood levels are back up and my oncologist suspects another tumor. Appropriate scans for tumor detection are occurring “as we speak”.
Are you aware of any evidence that Propecia can cause elevated levels of epinephrine, norepinephrine or dopamine? I have read numerous claims that Propecia can cause anxiety. If this is true, could this anxiety then trigger a “chemical cascade” in which catecholamines are released at high levels.
Thank you for your expertise in this matter.
I know I must sound like a broken record, but you really need to discuss personal medical issues with your doctor.
I wouldn’t expect Propecia to have anything to do with dopamine or other catecholamines. Propecia is a 5 alpha reductase inhibitor, which works to diminish the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
In my experience, the anxiety caused by Propecia are in those men who read too much about Propecia’s side effects on the Internet without discussing the issues with their doctor. Then again, anxiety could indeed be a rare symptom associated with Propecia, but it’s something that needs further study. The studies that I’ve seen which link Propecia to anxiety or depression were based on interviews with men from a Propecia complaint forum, and the bias is something I’ve discussed before.
Hello dr Rassman, i’m sure you have read the 10 years old finasteride study being conducted on 118 men. It was found that 10 years later 86% of men had the same hair compared to the baseline. Do you believe this is true from your experience?
The uncontrolled study you’re referring to is this — Finasteride, 1 mg daily administration on male androgenetic alopecia in different age groups: 10-year follow-up.
And to answer your question — yes. I don’t know if my percentages would line up exactly since I haven’t done the statistical analysis, but this drug is very effective at stabilizing hair loss as I see it on a daily basis in the patients I’ve been treating (some for over 10 years).
We received quite a few phone calls and emails after yesterday’s post about Dr Reddy’s 1mg finasteride (generic Propecia) now becoming available in the US, so we called some pharmacies in the Los Angeles area to get pricing/availability info:
In stock! $47.37 per 30 day supply at Hawthorne, CA location (compared to $73.92 for name brand Propecia). Costco has an online price checker, but it’s not showing the 1mg generic in the system yet.
In stock! $67.99 per 30 day supply at Los Angeles location on La Cienega (compared to $73.92 for name brand Propecia)
In stock! $70 per 30 day supply (compared to $98 for name brand Propecia)
Not in stock as of this posting (Jan 8, 2013)
Not in stock as of this posting (Jan 8, 2013)
Not in stock as of this posting (Jan 8, 2013)
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There isn’t a significant savings from the generic at CVS or Target, but Costco has the lowest price so far at under $48/mo. It doesn’t seem like there will be a huge drop in price until perhaps the 180 day exclusive window is up and other pharmaceutical companies can make their generic Propecia available. I have no estimates on what the price point might be 6-12 months from today, but I hope the price does come down considerably in that time.
Pricing and availability could change at any point, so you should call your local pharmacy for info.
Photo source: Twitter @KerriLynn_C (hat tip to KP)