Month: July 2012

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Guest Post – Popular Baldness Causes and the Lack of Evidence – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

This post comes from Dr. Richard Shiell:
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    Dr Masumi Inaba, who wrote a book on Androgenetic Alopecia (Springer 1996), was firmly convinced that the increase in Western style animal fats was causing an increase in baldness in young Japanese males. I am not sure that his statistical method would stand rigid scrutiny however.

    The same lack of good statistics applies to all the popularly believed “causes” of baldness. Forty years ago when I was a young HT surgeon, the patients all blamed the wearing of hats in the Army or Police Force as the cause of their baldness, when I am sure that it was just that they entered these institutions at the precise age that severe AGA usually kicks in (19-21 years old).

    I certainly believed throughout my career that “gym-jocks” lost hair more quickly than their “lay-about” brothers and cousins. The problem is that many were taking steroids and other “dietary supplements” so it was a very confusing issue to ascertain causality.

    I had one of a pair of 25 year old “identical” twins who had lost significantly more hair than the other. When I spoke to the more hirsute twin about it he laughed and said it was because his brother was married with a child and mortgage, and had more stress. So there you have undeniable evidence from a large series of ONE case!!

    Hair loss is the results of many complex things. For example, dietary supplements like whey and a variety of branched amino acids including creatine, push up men’s testosterone levels (and their DHT levels), which in turn accelerate hair loss. We are what we eat, I just wish I understood all of the complexities of diet as it impacts the hair loss we see.

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If I’m Splitting the 5mg Finasteride Pills, Are the Side Effect Risks Greater? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’m turning 26 years old soon and been on Propecia for 4 years now starting in mid July. For over 2 years I been cutting generic fin in 4 pieces and have saved tons of money. If you are cutting fin you are taking a slightly higher dose can it give you side effects? Because when cutting those pills the dose can be sometimes from like 1mg to maybe 1.5mg it’s hard to cut it accurately! And even if you do you be still taking 1.25mg!

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Unless the pieces are perfectly symmetrical and you didn’t lose any crumbs in the cutting process, you probably aren’t getting a full 1.25mg finasteride dose — and like you said, splitting it accurately is difficult.

But let’s assume you’re getting an average of 1.25mg per day. I suppose taking that dose by cutting a 5mg tablet can theoretically give you a slightly higher risk of side effects than taking a premade 1mg finasteride pill (Propecia)… but in practice, we have not seen this.

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Hair Loss InformationMy Child Says Haircuts Are Painful – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

my 6 yr old son cries excessively during a haircut and when i wash his hair. Being african american I also brush his hair while washing it to make sure it’s clean. It seems when he’s getting his haircut it’s not painful to me, but he says it hurts when he’s getting his haircut. Is there anything that can be done or should I be worried about anything inside his head or anything. Please help?

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If you have curly, kinky hair and someone is brushing it out, I would think that would be painful. Perhaps this is what your son is experiencing. There may be rare scalp conditions that cause pain, but that would need an examination. You should follow up with your child’s pediatrician.

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Could I Now Have an Allergic Reaction After 6 Years on Propecia? – Balding Blog

I have been taking propecia for almost 6 years and its worked perfectly. However, recently, I started to have an itchy rash all over my chest. I wanted to know if you have seen this before and if I do have an allergic reaction to Propecia, what options are available to me as I really do rely on it. Thanks

I have never seen an allergic reaction to Propecia that caused a rash on the chest. I suppose anything is possible, but it does not seem probable based on your brief description alone. I would follow up with your doctor.




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Balding Forum - Hair Loss Discussion

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Propecia Doesn’t Get Rid of All DHT, So Why Take It? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

There was doctor last night talking about hairloss on tv and about propecia. He siad that propecia only gets rid of 70% serum DHT and 38% scalp DHT. there is still 30% serum left and 62% scalp DHT left which is still alot of DHT. Then he said those remaining DHT can still do a number on hair follicles, and cause hairloss even by taking propecia. so he said taking finasteride is basically useless and that he would not prescribe it for that reason.

His words were, “why take this propecia drug, when it leaves behind a huge percentage of the DHT in the blood and scalp, that can still cause hairloss. He used a colonoscopy example. he said when people do a colonoscopy and a patient has lets say 5 polyps the doctor removes all 5 the polyps and doesn’t leave any behind. he said a drug like propecia removes one polyp and leaves 4 behind which can turn deadly. so why take propecia when its not that effective at removing the source hormone.

whats your opinion. I value your opinion more than the doctor speaking on tv. this threw me off lol. there is alot of dht left even with propecia. 62% scalp dht is alot.

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I thought my opinion on Propecia was pretty much established here.

The reality is that Propecia works at preventing or stabilizing hair loss in most men. His numbers on DHT seem reasonable, but when you see the drug work to slow hair loss or even reverse the loss in young men, then the results speak for themselves. The visual results have been well documented. Add the fact that it has been proven safe for 98% of men without side effects, and that is what is important.

When all is said and done, it’s really not about the numbers, percentages, or colonoscopy analogies. Propecia does work, but your genetic predisposition in the long run will catch up to you. It buys you time, so to speak.

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In the News – Mice, Yogurt, and Large Testicles – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Last sum­mer a team of researchers from the Massa­chusetts Institute of Technology set out to better understand the effects of yogurt on obesity. They were following up on the results of a long-term study from the Harvard School of Public Health that had suggested yogurt, more than any other food, helped to prevent age-related weight gain. The M.I.T. team, led by cancer biologist Susan Erdman and evolutionary geneticist Eric Alm, wanted to replicate the work in mice. The researchers took a group of 40 males and 40 females and either fed the animals a high-fat, low-fiber, low-nutrient diet meant to mimic junk food or fed them standard mouse meals. They then supple­mented half of each diet group with vanilla-flavored yogurt.

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Read the rest at Scientific American — Mice That Eat Yogurt Have Larger Testicles

Mice that eat more yogurt have bigger testicles, are more fertile, produce more frequent pregnancies, and generally healthier offspring. Researchers also saw that these mice had “10 times the active follicle density of other mice“. In humans, I would suspect that the larger testicles could add to the DHT problem, creating more balding in men.