Been on minoxidil 5% only . Haven’t been consistent with the treatment
You clearly understand that consistency is critical. Low dose oral minoxidil is better than topical minoxidil as only 40% of men respond to the topical. Oral is also easier.
Young men with recent hair loss, like this 17-year-old male, most often are very sensitive to finasteride and can get a complete reversal in a very short period as shown here. This is an amazingly good response.
I do not doubt that this is the result primarily of using microneedling, supported by minoxidil and finasteride. Microneedling can bring out fantastic hair growth, in your case in just 4 months. The question, of course, is when and if to stop the microneedling. I suggest that it should be continued monthly, almost indefinitely, or the value you are seeing might disappear. These results are comparable to a hair transplant, but with hair transplants, you can just forget about supporting the results as they keep growing without drugs or microneedling. Congratulations, this result is outstanding.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240206170882/en/Stemson-Therapeutics-Announces-Technological-Breakthrough-in-New-Hair-Growth
Hair has been cloned before. I was told that the problem encountered was when they put the cloned hairs into mice, they all died of infected hair follicles. This was because the hairs grew in all directions and didn’t orient themselves properly; hair grew out of skin. Think of hair as a complex organ that knows up from down and develops groups of hairs that work together in this hair organ with appropriate supportive vasculature and nerves. If it all doesn’t go up uniformly and grows down instead (relating to the scalp surface), an infection may occur as this foreign body (the actual hair shaft is a foreign body to everyone’s scalp) causes problems. The game isn’t over in a basketball game until the last pass is made and the clock runs out. Let’s see what they come up with. I wish them good luck!
Yes. Finasteride does seem to work more often in the crown when the frontal area has no response. I have seen finasteride reverse crown loss in men as old as 70.
The miniaturization doesn’t exceed 20%, which is, therefore, by definition, normal or marginal. To be exact, repeat the photo with the hairs cut short against the scalp so that an accurate count can be made. Vary the location as well so we will be looking at more than one place. Also map it against a photo so I know where the photos is coming from.
I take minoxidil, finasteride, and tretinoin and want to add microneedling. Will I have to continue miconeedling if is works on my head?
If microneedling produces hair, it is likely that microneedling will have to be continued on some maintenance schedule for your entire life. So, for example, if you start doing it once a week for 6 months and get the growth you wanted, you could step back to once a month, which might suffice. I certainly will not guarantee this.
My situation is that I used minoxidil for 1.5 years, so imagine all that time I wasn’t a responder. Can it make my hair worse since I’m just applying alcohol all the time? I’m asking about my situation cause I have been on fin and min and my hair is worse.
If you used topical minoxidil, only 40% of men have the enzyme in their scalp to convert minoxidil to minoxidil sulfate, the active form of minoxidil; however, if you have taken it orally, 100% of men should get some response to the drug because the liver creates minoxidil sulfate, the active form of the drug. If you had no response to the oral, then you are not a minoxidil responder.
There seems to be a lot of different opinions floating around regarding it’s long term effectiveness … With consistent use, does it maintain it’s therapeutic effects, or does your genetically predetermined Norwood level eventually develop as you age despite taking it? I’ve seen some people state that it continues to have it’s effects for as long as it’s taken but then others state that it only delays the inevitable and if you are let’s say genetically programmed to be Norwood 5, that you are going to eventually go there despite finasteride use? What is the actual case? (I know there’s different variables and there’s a small percentage of people who are non responders, but I just mean in general).
Finasteride always works to (1) slow hair loss (2) stop hair loss or (3) reverse hair loss. The aggressiveness of the body’s genetic hair loss is a variable. Apoptosis (cell death) occurs with genetic alopecia. We believe that each hair on the head is programmed to grow only a certain number of hair cycles. Once those cycles are reached, the hairs die. Finasteride seems to alter the duration of these cycles, possibly the number of hair cycles you can achieve, but this is just a guess. Good question.
Hair loss has nothing to do with nutrition and this man proves it.
Weight loss doesn’t mean starvation. This man likely had achieved a good balance with fewer calories than he usually took and kept good nutrition. It is wrong to think that because this man didn’t lose his hair, others may not have been well managed during the weight loss routine. Also, this man most likely didn’t have the genes for genetic alopecia, which might have precipitated hair loss.
Fin at a young age, 18, 19, 20, etc. Should you do it? Messing with your hormones at such a young age doesn’t seem like a good idea. Does it mess with them as much as people say and would you advise someone of that age to take fin if they’re balding?
I routinely prescribe finasteride to young men as I find it is often very effective. The time the hair loss is caught has much to do with its effectiveness. The earlier the hair loss or even before hair loss while the hairs are miniaturizing, the more the hair responds well to finasteride. Few men have complained about hormone issues to me. I have prescribed thousands of men this drug (all ages), and I notice those who lost hair within the past 2-4 years get the best response, while men who lost hair ten years or more only sometimes responded with hair regrowth. Even men in their 40s, if they start finasteride just after their balding starts (late balding men), should get a good response to finasteride.
I can’t tell you that balding men are more likely to get divorced, but I can tell you that when divorce occurs, many men seek a hair transplant because they want to start dating and look younger. Hair makes a man look younger.
Clogged pores is an old wives tale and does not cause hair loss
You know how with senile alopecia or DUPA, the hairs miniaturize but don’t (usually anyways) actually shrink to the point where they fall out and stop growing altogether? They miniaturize to a certain extent but then stabilize in a miniaturized state and are still retained (hence why you don’t see people with DUPA develop totally bald scalps because the hair is still there, just much thinner). Well, can the same thing occur with patterned hair loss? Where the hairs in the thinning areas of the scalp (vertex and/or hairline depending on the Norwood level) miniaturize to certain degree but then stabilize at that point and don’t continue to miniaturize to the point that they fall out and totally stop growing altogether? Or in patterned hair loss, miniaturizing hairs in a thinning area of the scalp will most definitely shrink to the point of no more growth?
You are drawing a lot of conclusions about DUPA. DUPA may be another form of Senile Alopecia or just a variation of genetic hair loss? I don’t know, but I doubt it. DUPA might progress over time, possibly leaving very little hair on the head. i have seen this in women but never seen a man with such advanced DUPA that his entire head became very thin. DUPA is different because it impacts the Donor area and every other place on the head. Someone can have genetically patterned hair loss and then develop DUPA, which I have seen. These men are in a tough spot, as their patterned hair loss may progress to full balding, leaving a fragile donor area.
Be smart about your hair. Work out a Personalized Master Plan for your future with a great hair doctor. Then you will not be a victim of your own ignorance and lose all of your hair in the process. If it is more expensive this way, it will be far cheaper down the road as the hair you lose while you play with medications based upon advice from amateurs, may never come back.