I Buy My Finasteride at Walgreens, But it Comes from Israel

Hey Dr. Rassman,

I currently cut a generic version of Finasteride 5 MG, which I purchase directly at my local Walgreens. I keep reading on your site that you should make sure that you are getting what you pay for and should question the validity of across sea’s medication.

I did some research and I found out that Walgreens get’s their generic Finasteride 5mg version from a company called: Teva Pharmaceuticals US. Walgreens.com

I then googled that company and their generic Finasteride together and I found out the following: Teva finasteride

At the bottom I can identify that they are talking about my pill by it’s identification of being blue and having “93” on one side and “7355” on the other. But what I noticed was that the medicine is manufactured in Jerusalem, Isreal (By Teva IND) and then they send it to their Pennsylvania location to Teva US.

I called 3 different Walgreens and asked them about this drug and they assured me that it is FDA regulated and that I am getting what it says I am. I don’t think a company like Walgreens would allow bad medication to be sent in….but my question to you is if you would trust the validity of this drug because it’s being manufactured in Isreal?

Thank you for your time

Many drugs are manufactured overseas by good companies which subscribe to FDA quality manufacturing rules. Teva Pharmaceuticals is one of those companies. They’re one of the largest makers of generic medications in the world.


2009-07-30 09:52:14I Buy My Finasteride at Walgreens, But it Comes from Israel

I Burned My Hair With an Iron as a Teen and Have a Bald Spot

Hi,
I am 33 years old female and have a bald spot on the top of my head from an iron burn since a teenager. There was no scar but definitely a linear bald spot as my iron was linear. Is there anyway I can regrow my hair. Would vinegar work? or alternatives? Thank you.

There is no way to regrow that hair, as it would’ve regrown on its own by now in the 15 or so years since you burned your scalp. Depending upon the wound that is present, it is often easily treated with hair transplants. I have corrected many of these types of problems with hair transplants.

Vinegar won’t do anything for hair regrowth.


2012-06-14 09:19:20I Burned My Hair With an Iron as a Teen and Have a Bald Spot

I Bleached My Hair at 15 Years Old and It’s Been Falling Out Since

(male)
I’m 17 and I’ve noticed that the hair on the top of my head has been thinning and falling out alot in the past two years. I strongly think that the problem was caused when I bleached my hair unprofessionally two years ago. After I bleached it and washed it off, I felt irritation and burning sensations on the scalp for about half an hour to an hour or so. What has happened to me and what can I do to prevent my hair loss? Also what products can I use to help?

Maybe the bleaching was coincidental to the natural genetic male pattern balding. Do you have a pattern to the thinning? In general, bleaching your hair doesn’t cause hair loss. If it did cause your hair loss, I wouldn’t expect it to reverse now that it has been 2 years since the insult happened. I don’t know of any products that will regrow hair that fell out from chemical damage.

I also can’t advise you without seeing you, or at least a set of good pictures.


2013-11-07 10:56:39I Bleached My Hair at 15 Years Old and It’s Been Falling Out Since

I believe I have diffuse thining

Diffuse thinning may or may not be uniform thinning. See the distinction in a recent commentary I published in the HT Forum: https://newhair.com/pdf/Kumaresan-Muthuvel-Bernstein-Rassman-Commentary.pdf You need to see magnified views of your hair in different parts of your scalp. By going to Amazon, look for hand microscopes and for under $50 you can get good digital photos of your scalp at the hair roots. Then get a map of the head from Google, label each area you photo (a, b, c, etc) and then send them to me and I will look at them and give you a diagnosis. Be sure to include your donor area from the back of your head.

I Bathe Daily, But Without Washing My Scalp

Dear Sir,

I moved into Hyderabad about an year back. They say that the water is hard here. I take bath with hot water daily, but not on scalp.

I had always had a dandruff problem and i applied nizoral, and the problem was in control. From about 7 months back, I am experiencing hair fall, about 15-20 strands each time I brush (even with a soft comb). There are dry scales on the hair. I have tried consulting doctors who say this may be due to psoraisis, and I am taking homeopathy medicines – psornium-200 daily, besides nizoral – 2 a week, 2 a week propysalic (a steroid having salicylic acid).

There is no signficant relief. Please advise if I should go for a trichoscan, if it helps.

I used to put coconut oil on my hair earlier, but not after moving to Hyderabad. Please advise…

If you are not washing your hair, you are probably building up considerable dead skin (what you are calling dandruff) and waxy debris. When you brush it, this debris may be anchored to the actual hair shafts. This will result in hair appearing in the brush — more hair than one might expect if you washed and used a hair conditioner for it. This would be the most likely cause of your hair loss. When you feel the ground shaking and see a herd of charging elephants coming your way, the first thing that should not come to your mind is an upcoming thunder storm.


2006-08-10 15:17:54I Bathe Daily, But Without Washing My Scalp

I Based My Hair Transplant Doctor Decision on Promotional Materials

i understand that you are under no obligation to answer my question, but i am a 27 year old male and just yesterday i had my first hair transplant of 1200 grafts. i went with [name removed], and made the huge mistake of basing my decision soley on their promotional material. now, everywhere i look says that theyre crooks and im going to wind up looking like a monster. could you provide any answers?

Today’s transplant by that particular medical group is much better than their internet reputation indicates. Even the groups which do large scale promotion are now performing much better work. Wait it out and have hope and faith. Next time, follow through with the type of investigation I outline in The Truth About Cheap Hair Transplants. You generally get what you will see when you meet the doctor’s patients and you should see enough of their patients (face to face) to get the type of quality work you need.

I asked about Finasteride to 5 different doctors

4 dermatologist and 1 urologist. All of them said the same thing; It is safe. They said that side effect risks are very low and most of the people who get sides are in nocebo group. Because of that, my urologist recommended me to stop reading about finasteride in web and forget about side effects before I start the medication. They are not believing in post finasteride syndrom they said it’s a coinsidence and different body, hormon issues lying behind it. So in their opinion if you get sides and quit the drug, everything should be back to normal after 30-90 days. Also they suggest three times a week 0.5mg to me (20 years old, diffuse thinning on top).

I agree with their opinions; however, I would start at half the dose of 0.5mg/day or 1mg every other day (which is 80% as effective as the full dose) The dose that they recommended may at bit too low to get the impact you need.


2020-06-03 11:05:28I asked about Finasteride to 5 different doctors

I am worried about Shock loss from a Hair Transplant

I am a candidate for a hair transplant but i don’t want to use finasterade or minoxidil. A surgeon told me that the transplanted hair would create a shock loss to my existing hair and speed up hair loss. Is this true? What happens in shock loss?

When you have a hair transplant, the native hair that is going through some degree of miniaturization could speed up the miniaturization process even to the point where the hair will fall out. Finasteride can protect against this process, not minoxidil. I personally believe that this is secondary to the local anesthetic and the stress of the surgery on your body, regardless of if you feel any stress.. Carefully and judicious use of your donor hair is a critical that your surgeon must fully not only understand, but implement it in how he approaches you with a Personalized Master Plan going forward with a hair transplant. You should know what is your worst case scenario, and plan for it so that there will be no surprises.


2020-02-12 11:33:12I am worried about Shock loss from a Hair Transplant

I am worried about my hairline, especially the right corner, what are your thoughts? (photos)

It is too early to tell much. Your hairline is still in its juvenile position (because it approximates the highest crease of the furrowed brow) and I would expect that it would rise about 1/4 inch from where it is. Maybe what you are seeing on the right side is the first step in this process. If I were to see you, I would look to see if you had miniaturization in the frontal area, which would indicate changes coming.