Month: October 2010

Hello Dr. Rassman!

I don’t have a question for you, but I did want to let you and your readers know that Target’s in-house pharmacy has added generic finasteride to their list of cheap generics.

For the longest time, I was paying $72.00 for 30 pills and splitting the them into fourths. Today when I went in to pick up my prescription, the pharmacist informed me that the total was just $9.00! I actually had her check the computer again because I was so shocked. She said that a newer generic was now being sold at Target, hence the tremendous price drop. This is great news!

Just thought I’d share. Thanks for all the wonderful advice!

We called a local Target pharmacy here in southern California and can confirm this pricing for the 5mg generic finasteride. I’m not sure if that pricing is at all Target pharmacy locations, but once you cut the pills that’s 4 months of 1mg finasteride for $9! You will still need a doctor’s prescription for the 5mg, of course. Thanks for letting us know!

Doctor

You’ve said you take propecia. Why don’t you use minoxidil as well? Do you feel it would be of no benefit? To be honest if you don’t take it one would wonder why they should start.

Also how do we know all hair treated with minoxidil won’t become dependent? Is this just a theory or has it been proven and if so how?

Thanks for such an informative site.

To clarify, I did use Propecia for years, but I stopped using it some time ago. I hoped that my hair loss stabilized and took a chance by stopping the drug, and thankfully I experienced no further loss. One of my sons is still using it daily, however. I didn’t use minoxidil for a couple of reasons — mainly because the twice a day application was cumbersome to me, but also because I was looking to maintain and not necessarily regrow. The Propecia was found to be sufficient for that.

As for minoxidil dependency to existing hairs, the drug spreads to the surrounding area, so some people will find the dependence extended beyond where they applied it. Sometimes it even spreads to the face, and in women, facial hair growth is a side effect of minoxidil.

To touch back on the reason that I considered minoxidil to be cumbersome — before starting any drugs or treatment regimens, one must consider the compliance factor. A pill a day is easy for most. Washing your hair then putting on minoxidil twice-a-day everyday takes time and most men are not the best at keeping to this type of regimen. Most men simply quit after a few months before seeing any results. This ends up being a waste of time and money. A drug or a treatment plan is only as good as the person who is willing to follow the plan.

I have been using minoxidil 10% twice a day for the past two months as well as propecia. Could you tell me if using hair oil (olive) before or after application could adversely affect the absorption or mitigate the effect that minoxidil has?…..

my hair looks very dry now and that is why I ask.

First, I don’t recommend 10% minoxidil for treating hair loss. Sometimes higher or stronger dose does not translate into better results. In fact, there are more side effects without necessarily increased benefits. Perhaps that is one of the reasons your hair is feeling so dry.

I realize there are many regimens that go along with hair loss, but I generally use olive oil for cooking and do not know how it would affect your minoxidil use.