Month: April 2012

Snippet from the article:

Warning labels for Merck & Co’s drugs for baldness and enlarged prostate will add notices of sexual side effects that continued after use of the medicines was stopped, U.S. health regulators said.

Labels will be revised for Proscar, which treats symptoms of enlarged prostate, and hair-loss treatment Propecia, the Food and Drug Administration said. The active ingredient in both drugs is finasteride.

The Propecia label will now include notification of problems with libido, ejaculation and orgasms that continued after use of the drug was ended. Proscar’s label will include notification of decreased libido.

Read the rest — Sexual side effect warnings added to Merck drugs

I am 25 years old, and weeks ago i had my first appointment with Dr Pak at your office.

He was very helpful and professional and gave me very good news, we took a look for miniaturization and bulk loss and everything was fine and there was no point for my to worry about.

Dr Pak told me that it wasn’t even necessary for me to take propecia (which i been taken for two years and 6 months), i havent stopped propecia so far, because even though Dr Pak didn’t classify me on the norwood scale, what worries me is the hairline, now i believe i am between norwood 2.5 and 3.

My question is, is it safe to stop propecia when the norwood scale is more advanced that 2?

Perhaps my pictures taken by dr Pak two weeks ago are available in the data, and perhaps you could classify my in the norwood scale.( i’m not ok with having them posted)

Anyway i want to thank you and Dr Pak, I plan to have an apointment once a year if everything stays the same without changes, and i also plan the possibility to have a hair transplant with nhi on the hairline when i hit 30.

Thank you Dr Rassman

I did review your file and it seems your hair loss issue started when you had a long hospitalization stay from your illness (considered stress-related hair loss). You noted hair loss after being discharged from the hospital and since then it has grown back.

There is little harm taking Propecia if there are no side effects; however, if after bulk analysis, miniaturization mapping, and observing your frontal hairline, it still indicates that you are not balding, then taking the drug is unnecessary.

Many men worry that they have frontal balding and often classify themselves as having a Norwood class 2 or 3 balding pattern, but they are really just seeing the appearance of a mature hairline. We often do not agree with their classification, but the final decision about taking Propecia is obviously yours and I can justify the drug in your particular case.

I’m a 24 year old male. I’ve been using Propecia for about 40 days and just started getting testicular pain. Everything functions as normal, but I have pains and my libido seems down about 30%, although it could just be from the pain. I can deal with some libido loss as I really want to keep my hair. It’s unlikely to be caused by anything else. Will symptoms likely fade and how long should I wait before discontinuing treatment? Also, I take the generic, Finpecia 1mg.

Testicular pain can be a serious medical emergency. Before dismissing it on a side effect of a medication please contact your doctor or get yourself to the nearest emergency department. This is not a place to get a diagnosis for your testicular pain issue or self treat a potentially serious medical issue.

In the last 10+ years I remember only two of my patients who had testicular discomfort (not pain) reported as a possible side effect from Propecia, and both of them found that their symptom was gone (best of my memory) in less than a month.

Hi, I’m 22-years-old (111 lbs) and started to diffused thin when I was 17. At the time, I was under severe prolonged stress and eating turkey with wheat bread for every meal for 7 months due to digestion problems, and using Nizoral to treat dandruff.

Since then, for the past 5 years, I have kept most of my hairline, excluding the receding area around my right-temple.

Most of the thinning is near the crown and on top of the scalp. The left-temple still has its shape but the hair quality is noticeably thinner than the rest of the hair on the sides.

I have been on-and-off Minox 5% for the past 3 years; Finasteride 1 mg for 16 months; miconazole nitrate cream for 6 months; and Folligen since the last month.

Overall, I have been trying to convert my vellus hairs into terminal ones, but so far I have not been successful. Should I drop Finasteride and go for either Dutasteride (? mg) or RU58841?

Thanks and looking forward to your response.

Sorry, I am not your prescribing doctor and can’t tell you what medication you should take. Dutasteride’s proper dosage is still undetermined, it isn’t FDA approved for treating hair loss, and as it is a much stronger medication, the side effect risk is likely greater (and longer lasting). As for RU58841, the last I remember it was some experimental lotion that was tested on macaques years ago.

You sound desperate to try anything, but with severe stress and malnutrition, your hair loss should be one of the last concerns you have.