First pictures was when he started the minoxidil, the second picture was one week later and the third picture was 3 months after he started using minoxidil. This is the most remarkable results I have ever seen from minoxidil alone. It tells us that this drug is worth trying as it does work for some people very well. This man posted his photos on Redit
Photography has lots of problems with it mostly because it is subjective, depends upon views and lighting, length of hair where small increases in length make a big difference. Defined hair counts with tattoo placement to guarantee that the same field would be examined to have value. Also objective studies like the HAIRCHECK would convince me but it doesn’t seem to be a driving force for investigators.
Nice! Keep on it.
This is the directions I have been giving patients up to now: “You can stop the drug one week after your wife starts her period for a period of 2 weeks. If your wife has a normal 28-30 day cycle, then she will ovulate when you have a zero finasteride blood level, yet maintain enough finasteride in your hair to prevent withdrawal hair loss.”
UPDATE: Now there is some evidence that finasteride does cross into the uterus so the drug may not be safe, see here: https://baldingblog.com/more-on-finasteride-risks-in-pregnancy-from-reddit/ and here: https://baldingblog.com/responses-from-finasteride-can-cause-birth-defects-post/
I don’t believe that minoxidil will slow the mature hairline from appearing.
Yes, I am concerned. 2000 grafts is about 25% (possibly more) of your entire donor supply used for just the frontal ½ inch of hairline. The doctor should have known better, so yes I am critical of the decision the two of you made. What is your Personalized Master Plan if you should develop advanced balding as this man did: https://baldingblog.com/need-master-plan-think-hair-transplants-photos/. Note that he wasn’t very bald at 22 but evolved into a bald man. I don’t want to panic you, but you need to think this through as you would be this man shown as he aged. Balding is progressive in 100% of men.
I got my 1.0 roller but I’m afraid. I read that people have been told that rolling once a week for years on the temples can damage the skin, and hair cant be transplanted there. I want to be able to have a transplant to my hairline in the future. Any way that’s not true?
There is good evidence that dermrolling wounding induces some hair growth in some men. This appears to be enhanced when minoxidil is used. A depth of at least 1 mm will get below the epdermis and into the dermis. The stem cells are found at about 1-2 mm below the epidermis. A hair transplant goes down much deeper and takes with it the stem cells along the entire hair shaft as well as the very important stem cells at the bottom of the hair shaft (the bulb of the hair follicle) and this goes down to a depth of between 5-7 mm so dermarolling should not impact a hair transplant
The issue is the doctor not the machine that does the surgery. Is the doctor really an expert in this field? Make sure that the doctor has his own staff and doesn’t bring in hired staff to do the surgery for him/her which is not only illegal but common with some of these systems (see: https://baldingblog.com/death-during-hair-transplant-surgery/). Too many doctors are just in this business for the money and don’t take training on their own. They buy a ‘Machine’ and then hire out the entire surgery team and often don’t participate in it, pocketing a fair amount of the money collected from you. I had seen situation where the doctor left the surgery with technicians who did the surgery. What would happen if something went wrong, could you die? If happened before and you wouldn’t want to be the next.
Objective: The effects on scalp and serum dihydrotestosterone (DHT) of different doses of a novel topical solution of 0.25% finasteride (P-3074), a type 2 5?-reductase, were investigated in men with androgenetic alopecia. Methods: Two randomized, parallel-group studies were conducted. Study I: 18 men received 1 mL (2.275 mg) P-3074, applied to the scalp once a day (o.d.) or twice a day (b.i.d), or 1 mg oral tablet o.d. for 1 week. Study II: 32 men received P-3074 at the dose of 100 (0.2275 mg), 200 (0.455 mg), 300 (0.6285 mg), or 400 (0.91 mg) ?L or the vehicle o.d. for 1 week. Scalp and serum DHT and serum testosterone were evaluated at baseline and treatment end. Results: Change from baseline in scalp DHT was -70% for P-3074 o.d. and approx. -50% for P-3074 b.i.d. and the tablet. Serum DHT decreased by 60 – 70%. The doses of 100 and 200 ?L P-3074 resulted in a -47/-52% scalp DHT reduction, similar to the 300 and 400 ?L doses (i.e., -37/-54%). A -5.6% inhibition was observed for the vehicle. Serum DHT was reduced by only -24/-26% with 100 and 200 ?L P-3074 and by -44/-48% with 300 and 400 ?L P-3074. No relevant changes occurred for serum testosterone. Conclusions: The novel finasteride 0.25% solution applied o.d. at the doses of 100 and 200 ?L results in an appropriate inhibition of scalp DHT potentially minimizing the untoward sexual side-effects linked to a systemic DHT reduction.
I often tell my patients to check their sperm count before they start taking finasteride and then after a few months later if they plan on having children in the future. We know finasteride drops sperm count so it is something that men should know if they take this drug.
I don’t have the study done by Norwood and Shiell, but my memory is good that 7% of balding men (which is half of all men) will be a Class 7 by the age of 26. I suspect that the number for a Class 6 will be in the 15-25% range, but I don’t remember for sure. I did find this on the internet chart to point you to the age distribution for the Norwood Class 2-4 by age distribution to 40 years of age
This is a difficult question so i will try to guess relying on my 30 years in this business. Using a 70% probability (my opinion), by the age of 26 and using the HAIRCHECK instrument and trichoscopy you will know your final balding pattern, a 80% probability (my opinion), by the age of 30 and using the HAIRCHECK instrument and trichoscopy, you will know your final balding pattern, a 90-95% probability (my opinion), by the age of 35 and using the HAIRCHECK instrument and trichoscopy you will know your final balding pattern. A few men may be normal past 35 and still develop balding, but that may reflect less than 5% of men.
When I was around 14 my brother took me to the barber and made me get haircuts that looked good but required a hair dryer to maintain the look which I wasn’t good with. Every morning after having a shower I would use a shitty hair dryer on the max setting on my hair for a good few minutes to try and achieve the original look which I couldn’t really do and this went on for at least a year.
I thought I was balding since I could see my scalp when I looked close in the mirror but I wasn’t losing any hair and I was cutting my hair short so it didn’t really matter that much at the time but when I kept my hair longer it didn’t look pleasing so I decided to shave all my hair off because I thought it would remove all the “thin hairs” I had and then grow thicker hair which was all a waste.
That was two years ago and my hair is still weak and fine. How do I go about repairing my hair so it becomes thicker on the top? Should I use a Dermaroller?
Hair damage is solved as the new hair grows up from the scalp, while scalp damage to the growing hair follicles in the scalp can be permanent. See a doctor.
Hello Im balding as a 16 yo guy. My temples are already norwood 2 (but it doesnt matter as my hair covers it) BUT now recently I started shedding in the crown. When I brush my crown I find 5-7 hairs everytime. It didnt used to be so much a few months ago. And This is scary as fuck. But I dont know what to do. Should I start minoxidil? Please note that my crown balding isnt really visible yet and seems more like a cowlick, but this is terribly scary.
Im also concerned that minoxidil wont stop the shedding, will destroy my collagen and make me look older. Of course finasteride and other DHT related meds are out of the question here because of my age. What should I do?? Im really lost here, nobody believes me from my dermatologist to my family, they are all in denial.
Start off by getting a HAIRCHECK test ( https://baldingblog.com/haircheck-test-how-it-is-done-and-what-its-value/ ) to find out if you are really balding and then with a metric, you can follow the process over the years with yearly tests. As you treat the hair loss, you will know what is happening with the impact of the treatment.
The amount of brainfog i got from dutasteride is killing me I was using a pill a day for the last 15 months and i have brainfog… It didn’t go away for the last 15 days, am committing suicide? I am in my house with brainfog in my stupid dumb head quarantined…
Stop the drug! Those are bad side effects. See your doctor