Hair loss victim spent six years and thousands of dollars on hair surgeries, and is still not normal nor has enough hair
I constantly warn consumers wishing to get hair transplants to find a doctor who cares about you, not the money you have in the bank. You can tell because a good doctor will develop a Master Plan for you which may or may not include a hair transplant. That doctor will measure your donor supply (an important metric) and give you an estimate on what your hair loss pattern might develop into over time and what you will have to do to keep yourself hairy. Here is a story that I commented from Reddit which is important for everyone considering a hair transplant to read: https://baldingblog.com/22-year-old-received-a-hair-transplant-of-2800-grafts-from-reddit/
Each man below has his own finasteride story, from good to bad
It’s been 102 days since I first expressed my excitement about hopping on fin. Lots of very negative comments, some supportive. But after 3 and a half months, on propecia I honestly could not be happier.
Major diffuse thinning as well as obvious recession at my temples…have all gone!
My temples and juvenile hairline are about 50% restored, my hair hasn’t looked this good and thick in many years
Man #2:
24 male. Been on minoxidil since 1.5 yr and finasteride since 5 months. But all I’ve grown if thin baby vellus hairs. Will these ever become terminal
Man #3:
I’ve been on Fin (1mg) around 45 days now and I’m thinking about stopping. My libido is very low and I can get an erection but not fully hard. I’m only 20 years old so I want to take care of my sexual health not worrying about ED in the future. I’ve got a visual bald spot and my hairline isn’t great, I’m very self conscious about my hair and I really wouldn’t look good being bald. So I’m not sure what to do, is there anything I can do for my hair that doesn’t require me taking Finasteride?
During this shed i lost a lot of my eyebrow hairs i could pull out three to five at some times then one or two at others is this a sign that what i had was likely TE?
You need to be examined by a doctor as there are known conditions that cause what you are talking about
Started Fin 2 weeks ago. Side effects:
Increased libido (which the wife loves)
Increased confidence
More energy
I’m thinking these are probably just from the feeling of actually finally doing something about my hair loss. I used to get anxious multiple times per week thinking about the fact that I’m losing my hair. I was worried about fin sides after reading the posts on here, but I’m so glad I finally took the plunge. Instead of worrying about the hair I’m losing, I feel a sense of control and confidence. No negative sides at all so far.
I have heard this quite a few times.
During years me and my friends were balding and this year my friends went from diffuse thining to NW4/5 with a hairline. Even me before iv’e started Fin my hairloss went full speed in less then a year. From a NW1.5 to NW3 with crown thinning…
Does it always happen?
It all depends upon your genetics. Young men who inherit an advanced balding pattern usually get it by the time that they are 26 years old and will see the hair fall away rapidly starting somewhere between 17-21, Look at your parents family patterns (mother and father) so see what you might expect to see in yourself. Find a good doctor and build a proper Master Plan with that doctor to manage the hair loss if you are in this situation.
With male pattern baldness, large (terminal) hairs convert into small (vellus) hairs. This is the negative effect of testosterone and DHT, a potent testosterone derivative, on hair follicle stem cells. Despite lack of visible hair growth, hair stem cells remain largely intact in the bald scalp skin!
Human hair loss conditions result from abnormalities in the so-called hair growth cycle, the recurrent process of hair production separated by periods of inactivity. Current anti-hair loss treatments modulate only part of this cyclic process e.g., Finasteride lengthens hair production phase leading to longer hairs, but it cannot activate re-entry of dormant hairs into new growth phase. Because of this, such treatments show extremely slow and incomplete recovery from hair loss, especially when the condition is advanced. Additionally, the efficacy of new hair regeneration via stem cell therapy or the so-called hair cloning was never conclusively demonstrated in the clinical settings. Inspired by the naturally occurring human condition of excessive hair growth, UCI researchers have discovered that re-entry of dormant hairs into active growth cycle can be efficiently stimulated when hairs are exposed to a specialized type of pigment-producing cell or to the signaling molecules that this type of cell actively makes. This suggests that either transplanting cells into the skin or simply injecting their bioactive molecules is sufficient to drive new hair growth on the scalp.
UCI scientists also found that hair growth-inducing effect of pigment-producing cells is potentiated by other naturally occurring cells derived from blood. Moreover, they investigated the profile of secreted signaling molecules and determined that a wide range of skin specific cells, beyond pigment producing cells, can be coaxed to make them due to shared profiles of secreted factors. Injecting a synthesized cocktail of signaling molecules in to an area with dormant hairs in vivo in animal model induced rapid new hair growth. Prospective plans involve testing these effects on human skin. Targeting a signaling pathway for naturally robust hair growth in humans presents a promising approach for treating hair loss conditions.
The hairy nevus is a common, benign birthmark where vellus hairs convert into the terminal hairs normally found on the scalp. UCI scientists believe that this occurs because of a protein signaling molecule that is produced by the hairy nevus and UCI has identified key proteins that they believe is responsible for the hair growth.
The way UCI scientists will Microinject hair-growth promoting molecules, derived from the hairy nevus birthmark, into the scalp skin affected by male pattern baldness. The hope is that these molecules will act as a signal to dormant stem cells (as it happens in the vellus hair follicles of the hairy nevus). It is hoped that this will result in vellus-to-terminal hair transformation and a cosmetically desirable hair growth restoration in the balding male
The average head has up to 20% of the hairs miniaturized in the donor area and even in a non-balding man; however, in the balding area, I would expect to see a lot more miniaturization in the process of your losing your hair. Please send me microscopic views of your hair mapped against your head as shown here: https://baldingblog.com/mapping-out-your-balding/
In some people who reported initial sexual side effects, these effects went away in a few months. In others, it did not. If it persists, you should consider stopping it because there is a theory that in some of those people those who maintain long term side effects, they may get permanent sexual side effects.
BTW, you are very ignorant about PFS. There are many cases of men who developed side effects and stopped the drug immediately, but they have not reversed years later. You haven’t even read the basic literature yet you so confidently opine on subjects of which you have no idea. You claim you have never seen it in the clinic (untrue) but then you haven’t even read about it. It’s a shame.
Merck’s clinical trials showed the same. Patients dropped out of the study immediately due to side effects and they had not still not reversed by the time they completed the study with remaining patients.
I will respond to you one last time. Since I have written over 10,000 prescriptions for finasteride on men of all ages, I can call on my experience (more than your first-hand experience I suspect). I also looked at another 10 or so doctors with the same prescription writing experience which translates into over 100,000 prescriptions for finasteride since it was introduced. All of these doctors stopped the drug on their patients when the patient complained about Sexual Side effects and that is why we, as a group, can state that we haven’t seen PFS in our patient population. THAT IS A VALID OBSERVATION. My one case does not qualify in this scenario as he developed sexual side effects in less time than it took to get PEAK blood levels for finasteride (2 hours after taking the pill) which tells me that it was psychological at that moment in time. Since this man continued taking the drug for more than one year after he was told to stop it AND HAD SEXUAL SIDE EFFECTS REPORTED THAT ENTIRE YEAR, BUT REFUSED TO STOP THE DRUG, then of course he may have induced PFS but there is no real way to tell as he was not trustworthy with regard to his own story. I have been respectful to you and expect the same from you in your writing. I have not only read extensively about PFS, but sat on panels and participated in meetings where PFS was discussed making me a bit of an expert with EXPERIENCE. I have never heard nor seen any report where a man had taken ONE dose and developed PFS, you can prove me wrong here if you have any facts to back up your claim but being dropped from a study does not relate to a SINGE DOSE response for inducing PFS. I am open to seeing your documentation.
I can’t comment on Merck. If the evidence shows that Merck hide results about long-term sexual side effects, I would be outraged as you are. Back in 2012, PFS was only just being discussed in the hair transplant community which at the time didn’t necessarily believe that it was real (I would have to check my notes on this date) but I believe at that time there was less public discussion about PFS as a syndrome, just patients complaining about persistent sexual side effects after stopping the drug, something I didn’t hear from my patients at the time. All of my patients, even back in 2012, were given a written release form which they executed with regard to the use of finasteride. All of the known side effects were not only discussed one-on-one between the patients and I when I wrote the prescription, but the document that they signed listed all of the known side effects coming out of the Merck brochures and the literature which I read. When PFS became a known entity, it was added to the informed consent document that each patient had to sign and I always included it in my consultations (I often took an hour with each new patient at no charge). I now believe that PFS is a real syndrome and any person who gets a finasteride prescription from me is made aware of this risk.
Look at this post: https://baldingblog.com/new-report-that-finasteride-does-not-cause-sexual-side-effects/
Dutasteride has never gone through the FDA trials in young men who wish to use it for hair loss, so without clinical studies it is all anecdotal. As dutasteride is both a type 1 and type 2 blocker and a more effective DHT blocker on the competitive inhibition side, I would suspect that the sexual side effects as well as the risk of PFS would be equal to or more than finasteride. Just a guess.
Will the use of avodart can damage the making of a child? Can it cause misdevelopment if the semen has traces of dutasteride? I have not found anything on this subject online, except women should not use it themselfs.
Best not to be on the drug when you are trying to get your wife pregnant