Month: January 2023

Many readers here on Baldingblog are here to seek information for their hair loss issues. There are many who are “scared” or concerned with side effects from Propecia which can actually help with male pattern balding. The most noticeable side effect in question is the concern for erectile dysfunction or loss of libido as there are numerous Internet sites that propagate this issue.

While everyone has their right to express their opinions and I would like to assume what they are experiencing is “real” to them, I would like to caution the reader to keep in mind the big picture.

People take medication to treat something. But ALL medications have side effects! And if a medication has side effects that cause erectile dysfunction and decreased libido, then you need a doctor to manage it. Some medications that have many known side effects (which include erectile dysfunction) that are commonly used include: Paxil, Prozac (psychiatric medication), Lipitor (cholesterol medication), Metoprolol (blood pressure medication).

Many men who do not take any medication also experience sexual dysfunction as part of their aging process or as a result of some problem with penile blood flow from conditions such as vascular disease or diabetes. Sexual dysfunction may be more frequent than what we all may expect because nobody really wants to admit they have a sexual problem. After all it is a sensitive topic! Propecia (finasteride) has a sexual side effect risk of 2%.

Now if in the end one experience a real side effect from Propecia, you can always STOP taking the medication. But always discuss these issues with your doctor first! At least you tired! Because all side effects from Propecia is reversible.

This is an email I received from a doctor in Brazil: “Today I had a consultation. The patient told me he was buying tickets for Phantom of Opera in New York (around 1996). Someone behind him realized he had had an alopecia reduction and a bad hair transplant (that someone was you). You talked to him and suggested to go to your office in L.A. to have a better result. Two years later he was in your clinic and had the surgery done by you. You fixed it for him.

Other coincidence: newhair.com was opened in my computer when he came to my consultation room and so was the e-mail you sent me. I showed him all the coincidences!!! I took a Picture by his side and am including it for your pleasure. It is a honour to have you as a mentor, colleague and friend.”

I began aggressively working out 2 years ago when I graduated from school. I was at least working out 5+ days a week and gained around 15 pounds of muscle. With this came seborrhoeic dermatitis – dandruff on every hair follicle (took photos with a hair microscope camera) , DHT itch (especially during cardio), and obviously hair loss/thinning. I stopped working out because my scalp looked and felt inhabitable. I went to over 3 doctors prescribing different meds but in the end finasteride cleared it up. With the combination of Ketoconazole, my hair feels a lot better! I only started this regimen 2 months ago but I’m shedding 90% less. My hair is still very thin… soooo should I start working out again? Should I wait 6 months so the hair gets stronger? I’m leaning towards waiting 6 months but I would love to hear from users who are on Fin + hitting the gym reg

More likely that with age, genetic hair loss may be slowly appearing regardless of what you are doing with workouts. Do whatever you like, life is short!

I’m currently in a foreign country and I got robbed of my bag which contained all of my finasteride. I won’t have access to it for another 4 weeks. What should I do? I’ve been taking it for 12 months (1mg/day) with good results. How much hair will I lose? Should I go back to my own country to get more? Please help, thanks

After about three weeks, the finasteride tissue levels significantly reduce and the ‘catch-up hair loss’ may start. Get someone to mail you a few pills to get you over the hump.

And what are your patient’s experience with Finasteride regarding negative side effects?

For the young man who has a risk of shock loss after a hair transplant (a loss of native hair), finasteride can prevent this. Most men don’t have sexual side effect (risk for sexual side effects is under 4%)

Does this “tug of war” refer to the idea that your body responds to fin by increasing 5AR enzymes and therefore DHT in response to finasteride? Or does this refer to the idea that even if you inhibit 70% DHT with fin, or 90% with dut, it simply may not be enough to stop genetic balding?

The later. Also it assumes that you can stop the Apoptosis (programmed cell death) that hit hair follicles after they go through a specific number of hair cycles that are programmed in our genetics. Generally, finasteride prolongs the growth cycle and reverses the miniaturization of those hairs that are miniaturized. Given time, if the genes are strongly influencing the hair follicles, these drugs may fail over time.

You’re really tired, upset and frustrated, have severe chest pain and the pain is either in the middle of the chest or it moves to one or both of your arms, possibly even your jaw. You might even feel faint and it is highly possible that you are nowhere near a hospital or where you can get help. Essentially, you think “MAYBE I’M HAVING A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE”.

Action: Take very deep breaths and cough vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. Feeling faint might be that you heart is not working right or not working so repeat this process every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. If all of this fails, you should consider calling 911 or trying to see if someone around you can call 911 for you.

Explanation: Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. Sever coughing might even start a stopped hears or alter an arrhythmia. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital, alive.

CDC recommends young women avoid alcohol unless they are using contraception

USA Today (2/2, Szabo) reports, “Women of childbearing age should avoid alcohol unless they’re using contraception, federal health officials said” yesterday. “‘Alcohol can permanently harm a developing baby before a woman knows she is pregnant,’ said Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Schuchat pointed out, “About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, and even if planned, most women won’t know they are pregnant for the first month or so, when they might still be drinking.”

The Washington Post (2/2, Izadi) reports in “Health & Science” that “an estimated 3.3 million women who drink are sexually active but not on birth control,” according to a CDC report released yesterday. In addition, “three out of four women who want to get pregnant don’t stop drinking alcohol when they stop using” contraception. The agency “warns that consuming alcohol during pregnancy can lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders,” and “there is no known amount of alcohol that’s safe to consume while pregnant.”

Hair transplant surgery, or in fact any surgical procedure has the potential to harm a fetus in the first trimester of pregnancy. For women who have such surgery and are not on birth control pills, they should get a pregnancy test BEFORE undergoing any such type of surgery to avoid miscarriages or other fetal problems.