Month: February 2007

Dr. I came in for a consultation at your LA office in mid August. I saw Dr. Pak, and had my hair mapped for miniturization. The follow up e-mail said I was “very early Class 3, possible Class 4A balding pattern.” I was actively losing hair and it was suggested to wait on a surgical procedure, I agreed. I had already been taking propecia with no results. It was recomended I continue for possible results. About mid september I noticed a large decrease in the amount of hairs on my hands in the shower. Unfortunitely for me a friend pointed out I was kinda growing a chest. I had not noticed this. Here is the thing. I drank very heavely for about four years, I know alcohol abuse can cause this. My question is, is it more likely the propecia or the past alcohol abuse that is causeing this, and what do you suggest I do. I don’t drink heavely anymore I had stopped before this was pointed out to me. It’s noticable enough that I’m self concious about it, and if there is no other option except surgical removal I may have to consider it. On that note, can you recomend a good surgeon to see for a consultation. It’s causeing me some greif in the work place, I’m a Marine so I’m sure you can imagine the comments. I lost 15 pounds since I stopped drinking so that helped, but not enough, I fear the rest may be breast tissue. I would have called your office with these questions however I am deployed to Iraq until April. Thank you very much for your time!!

First, I would try stopping Propecia to see if your problem resolves in 2-4 weeks. That will show if the cause is Propecia. You should see your Army surgeon (it is kept private) who will be skilled in assessing the breast enlargement. Any good general surgeon back home can take care of this for you if it does not get better with stopping the Propecia.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

Hi

I saw an infomercial today on the product ScalpMed and have read your comments about it. It says that the active ingredient is minoxidil 5%, the same as Rogaine. If the active ingredient is the same then what makes it different than Rogaine or any other product that contains minoxidil? Shouldn’t the results be the same too?

Thanks

Yes, if the concentration of the minoxidil is the same. As for the results being the same, I would suspect that to be the case.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

I’m an 18 year old male and was recently told by my dermatologist that I am starting to bald. My dermatologist told me that I should just take Rogaine, since I was able to catch the balding early. However, the thinning is happening in spots just behind the hairline, and I know that Rogaine has not been proven to work in that spot. Should I go back and ask for Propecia?

If your only concern is hair loss at the hairline and the immediate area behind it, you should be aware that most of the studies, which documented positive effects of Propecia, were done on crown and vertex area. This is also true about Rogaine. With that said, Propecia is the best medical treatment for genetic balding, but you need a diagnosis by mapping out your scalp for miniaturization to determine if this is indeed genetic balding or just the maturation of your frontal hairline. One reason I usually recommend finasteride (Propecia) to my male patients, because of its ease of use (one pill a day rather than applying Rogaine solution to the bald area twice a day).

In the office yesterday, I saw a young man who was started on Propecia a year ago. He responded well in the frontal area, reducing the miniaturization from 70% to 30% and he had more hair in the frontal area from picture comparisons we had of him and his own assessment. What this means is that just because the official line is that Propecia may not work in the frontal area, clearly we all respond differently. He was smiling (certainly not complaining) about all of that new hair in the frontal area.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):