Been on Min (and Fin) for 7 months and have made some nice progress and got my hair to grow back on the crown and temples, but if I shave, is that like pressing the “restart” button? Do I have to wait another 7 months to gain what I have back?
No, shaving your head will not cause hair loss; however, miniaturized hairs which are not growing well, may not be growing when you let your hair grow back.
It is likely that you have alopecia areata. Take a look at this reference: https://baldingblog.com/how-does-a-dermatologist-check-for-miniaturization/ which shows the in-office examination results from using a trichoscope for the evaluation and diagnosis of this condition. This patient shows the classic critical diagnostic finding with a trichoscope or exclamation mark hairs
There is nothing as good as keeping to a plan daily to get great results like this result.
In regards of sides, long time safety, price, practical usage what are the arguments for each method. Also is it possible to make the topical version at home. I’d highly appreciate objective arguments at with some literature for evidence, but of course own experience with trying out these methods.
Oral is better if you don’t get side effects because it addresses the miniaturization that you can’t see in parts of your scalp where you may have already started balding. The topical only works where you put it and spreading it all over your scalp, doesn’t make sense if the pill can do it a a fraction of the cost without the nuisance of daily applications which are time consuming
This is a patient that had a hair transplant by a non-physician and got necrosis of the recipient area where all of the hair will not grow there and it is heavily scarred as you can see.
When you continue to shed on finasteride, it probably means that the genetic hair loss has increased its rate of loss. Stopping the finasteride will probably cause more rapid loss so I doubt that it is the finasteride that is causing the shedding
This happens to some men as they get older. They lose their neck hair as shown here. This is a very extreme example of retrograde alopecia
This man went to Turkey for FUE grafts. There is considerable scarring present in the donor area. The surgeon (or non-surgeon who did this surgery), did not understand how to keep the donor density at a sufficient level to keep coverage of the donor area.
Does the permanent loss from TE apply to one who is taking dutasteride? I’d like to believe that it may help in preventing miniaturization to some extent. What do you say doc?
TE never cases permanent hair loss, it is temporary and often goes away in a year or so. It also rarely impacts men.
cost of a hair system is higher than you think. This is what one poster wrote: cost of a hair system is high
The one clinic I’ve found near me has hair systems starting from $900 (!) and it’s assumed i will need 3 of those per year. Then I need a cleaning of the hair system and re-attachment every 3 weeks costing $130 each time.
Annual cost is thus: $2700 for hair system itself + $2300 for re-attachments = $5000!! This is not including all the hair styling products and special kinds of schampoos needed (which is not cheap). What the heck?? Why is it so expensive?
I heard you can buy cheaper from online stores but that it’s basically a gambling not getting different kind of hair or a damaged system etc. Anyone with experience?
Hair Transplant: can massaging the scalp cause transplanted hairs to be lost after 3-4 weeks?
The problem is not with the transplanted grafts as they are secure in their new home but from the native hair that can be fragile after a hair transplant and come out easy particularly the miniaturized hairs.
The general thought is that it keeps working, at the least slowing down the loss. We know that it does that because many men who have stopped it after 10-20 years of use, found that they lost hair after stopping in within a few months.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4064044/
The focus here is on possibly less than 1% of the population taking finasteride.The majority of the people I have prescribed the drug for, tell me it is a miracle drug. Some of the posters on Reddit also comment positively about it and show fantastic results with a full return of their original hair. So there is a Yin and a Yang, the Yin is high satisfaction and Yang is PFS or for some small percentage or sexual side effects that requiring stopping the drug. I try to tell everyone the story both good and bad so of the hour I spend with each new patient in my office, a good 10-15 minutes is presenting the balance between finasteride good and bad in the appropriate new patient. My PATIENTS make the decision to take it and I do not influence them or intimidate them in any way. I try to tell the facts and offer alternatives as well. That is what being a good doctor is. Every medication in the world has had negative effects, even Aspirin has killed people, so you can live a sheltered life and never venture into the world of any drugs, or you can be a smart, educated buyer when you need some medication, whatever it is and take the drug for the benefits it offers, but be sure to understand the down side.
