Cutting Finasteride Tablets

I cut all of my pills the day i get my prescription refilled. Is this bad practice? Do the pills lose potency when exposed to air?

Yes this is a bad approach because the cut pills will absorb water from the atmosphere, and lose their value over time.


2019-11-22 15:29:43Cutting Finasteride Tablets

Cutis Verticis Gyrata and Hair Loss

I have a condition that is called ‘cutis verticis gyrata’ where the scalp grows ridges or abnormal lines on the surface. I have had this condition for some time, but have never been concerned before because I have hair that covers the ridges in my head. I’m in the beginning stages of MPB, and have been taking propecia for about a month. I don’t know if my hair loss will ever be extensive enough to show the condition of my scalp, but it causes great concern because I do not want this to happen. I am 32 years old. Have you ever dealt with this issue before? I have read a little on the internet to try to see what people have done with this, but there is not much out there about it. I have read that it has been treated with scalp reduction, which sounds reasonable, but then what? Any ideas?

Cutis Verticis GyrataAfter receiving your email, I wrote to a group of well-respected doctors to inquire about experience in this area, and the general consensus was that this should not be treated surgically. Most of the doctors I wrote to were dermatologists who may have an aversion to scalp reductions in this situation. You need to be evaluated by a surgeon, perhaps a very specialized plastic surgeon who has experience doing this surgery in a patient with your diagnosis. Logically, scalp reductions should work, but I wouldn’t recommend that you be the first patient to attempt surgery to correct this condition.

If you are concerned about balding (which might make the appearance more detectable) then I strongly suggest a miniaturization study to see what degree of hair is at risk of falling out, followed up by a Master Plan. If I was your doctor, I would explore your options after you became my patient, but I simply cannot give you an in-depth answer as I have not examined your scalp or your hair.

Image from DermAtlas

Cutis Verticals Gyrata (photo)

Cutis verticis gyrata describes a scalp condition with convoluted folds and deep furrows that resemble the surface of the brain. Cutis verticis gyrata is a progressive condition. It is mainly troublesome due to the cosmetic appearance. Rarely, it can be complicated by malignant melanoma developing within a melanocytic naevus. Cutis verticis gyrata occurs more commonly in males. The primary form of cutis verticis gyrata has a reported male-to-female ratio of 5:1. The incidence of cutis verticis gyrata may be reported as lower in women because longer hair may camouflage the condition (Ref: Dermnet NZ).

This is a cosmetic issue for those who have it. As you can see in this photo, styling the hair can be a problem.


2020-05-04 12:39:19Cutis Verticals Gyrata (photo)

cut my dose of finasteride by half and the sexual side effects went away

I posted a while back asking if anybody had any anecdotes for taking smaller doses to alleviate sides. Well I bit the bullet and bought a pill cutter last Thursday and from then until Monday took 0.5mg fin every day. It was by the Monday that I woke up with proper morning wood for the first time in weeks and had the horn all day. At this point I noticed more hair in my hands than normal after washing, so went back to 1mg Monday night.

You should probably stay on the half dose as it is 80% as effective as the full dose.

 


2019-05-10 12:43:14cut my dose of finasteride by half and the sexual side effects went away

Curis and Hair Loss

How long will you think CURIS take to be produced commercially? Also, does it have capability to grow hair on already balded areas?

This is a most interesting and exciting technology in its early stages. A great deal of work will be required to take this from the animal study into the human realm and it may not transport easily. What this does show is the many faces of the regrowth phenomenon in hair regeneration. Generally this process, under FDA regulation, will take years. To answer your question, I really do not know exactly how the medication works, but as I find out more, I will let the blog readers know. Thanks for pointing this out to me.

For those interested in learning more, please see Curis Presents Study Showing Stimulation of Hair Growth by Small Molecule Hedgehog Pathway Agonist.

Curious About The Hairline My Transplant Doctor Gave Me

I recently had a hair transplant done and I was curious about the way my doctor had done it. I naturally have had a widow’s peak but it has receded some. The way the doctor put the graphs in was sort of also in a M shaped form just out to the sides. Will this restore my natural hairline?

I cannot answer your question without seeing a current photo and comparing it to what you looked like before you lost your hair. More importantly, you should have addressed this before the surgery to make sure that your doctor understood your goals and expectations.

The standard practice at NHI is for the physician to draw a hairline with an erasable marker prior to surgery and have the patient look at the general shape and position so that he/she can approve or modify what the doctor planned. Generally this take a few minutes as the patient has specific concerns and requests (such as adding a widow’s peak). In the end, both patient and doctor are on the same page in agreement before the surgery starts and we take good pictures to document what we had agreed to. After the hairs grow in, we can then go back to the drawing on the head and see if the hairline we had tried to produce, was actually produced.

CT Scan and Hair Loss

Hello Dr – I read with interest your answer about MRI scans and how there is no link from them to hairloss as they use magnets. What then, would be your opinion on CT Scans? Could these cause hairloss and if so over what time period? i.e – a few days after the scan or a few years? Thank you for your time.

The amount of radiation that a CT scan (also known as a CAT scan) will administer is not sufficient to cause hair loss. It takes much, much more radiation to cause radiation sickness and have the side effects to cause hair loss.

For more information about CT scanning, please see: Wikipedia – Computed tomography


2006-10-10 16:15:41CT Scan and Hair Loss

Crusting on recipient grafts and orderly placement of hair grafts (photo)

This patient is one week after surgery and did not aggressively wash his hair so that crusts form around each graft. Crusting comes about because of leakage of serum from the recipient site. This can be washed off as it occurs with a good washing technique that we deploy for all of our patients?. It will take a few weeks for these crusts to shed with good shampooing. The grafts are secure provided that the crusts are not plucked of the grafts could come out. The grafts are placed like soldiers, all aligned in an orderly pattern. This is not how hair grows as growth is randomly distributed

soldier hair

Crown transplants and Swirl (photo)

The swirl area is always difficult because the hairs do not layer but rather draw one’s eye to the center of the vortex. The impacts of 4000 grafts depend upon the thickness of your hair shafts (fine, medium or coarse). The thicker the hair shafts, the better the coverage. I suspect that, looking at your result, your hair has a medium or medium-fine hair thickness. Please let me know if I am correct. The transplant was largely done in front of the swirl, but half of the upper swirl was included in the transplant. Note how difficult it is to get a tight swirl unless you put in more hair or have coarser hair. This is a nice result. Rarely does new hair appear from a hair transplant beyond 9 months. Congrats!

As an aside, look at my crown hair transplant, which was fine when it was done; however, when my hair thinned out with age, a see-through appearance showed my scalp. I had SMP done and the change was dramatic, see here; https://baldingblog.com/i-just-finished-my-smp-on-my-crown-area-today-see-before-and-after-photos/