Author: Dr. William Rassman

My dermatologist is offering me to take fin. Im 22 and have a receding hairline, but it doesn’t look too bad yet. I wanna maintain my hair and be proactive, but I’ve been reading stories of fin accelerating their balding and not always regrowing what was lost from fin. I’m scared that this will happen to me. What are your guys experience with this?

Not a problem. Putting the side effects to the side, the only problem with finasteride is that in some men it doesn’t work well, but most men see a slowing of their hair loss or a complete stop of their hair loss. A 70 year old patient of mine was prescribed finasteride by his doctor for his prostate and he came to see me to show that he regrew much of his lost hair, with a big smile telling me that I won’t get any money for a hair transplant on him. Ha Ha I said.

I’ve been taking fin since August. Lately I’ve been noticing that I’ve been experiencing memory loss… Like if a prof tells the class something important, I might not recall what it was if I don’t take any notes. I also feel as if words come slower to me. I’ll lose my train of thought so easily!

I could just be crazy. Or I could be sleep deprived. Stressed. Idk. I’m in grad school and I read a lot…like I’m able to complete my assignments well, but I feel like I just lose my train of thought sometimes and words come slowly sometimes. Also I’ll forget certain things that people say.

Maybe I’m crazy! This could just be normal…like people don’t always retain everything they hear, and sometimes people don’t think clearly for whatever reason.

Brain fox is a rare but significant complication of finasteride. You described it perfectly. You should speak with your doctor to find out if you should stay on the drug

I have thousands of patients on finasteride and it is clearly holding on to their hair. When and if they stop it, the lose huge amounts of hair and then we have quite a conversation. Most want to get back on finasteride but some don’t fully go back to their hair status from before they stopped it. I have seen this effect in young men in there 20 and 30s and in men in their 60s and 70s as well.

Can fin work by itself ? from tressless

I want my eyebrows transplanted. A new plastic surgeon just came to town and is offering eyebrow transplant. Should I trust him?

Eyebrow hair transplants are very difficult to perform. The hair grafts for the eyebrow must to placed flat against the upper bone of the eye socket. Unfortunately getting this done correctly, is not easily accomplished and should not be attempted except for the most experienced surgeons who have created many of these reconstructions with good results. I have seen the eyebrow hairs stick out forward as they were not placed flat or in the correct direction. Plucking them out work, but why should you have to pluck after having it done? Good question!

Restoring eyebrow hair is a rewarding endeavor, as this structure is so important to a person’s appearance, perhaps even more so than scalp hair. The secret to eyebrow transplantation (as in other types of hair restoration) is to closely observe nature. Unlike scalp hair, the eyebrows consist of only one-hair follicular units, so that if the source of hair is the larger follicular units obtained from the permanent zone in the back of the scalp, these units (of 2, 3, and 4-hairs) must be carefully split up into individual follicles under the microscope.

Replicating the unique directional changes of eyebrow hair is also critical to a successful restoration. The hair points upward in its medial aspect (near the nose) and then fans outwards as one moves towards the temples. However, the angles are not quite so simple. As one moves laterally (towards the temples), the hair in the upper half of the brow points to the side and down and the hair in the lower half points to the side and up. The upper and lower hairs interdigitate causing the central part of the eyebrow to slightly rise and form a gentle ridge which gives the eyebrow its unique shape. This interlocking also keeps the eyebrow hair orderly and “neat” in appearance. All of the eyebrow hair emerges from the skin at a very acute angle (almost flat), so the recipient sites must be made with the needle actually lying on the skin surface.

Just as the outer edge of the female hairline is often comprised of finer hair, so are the outer boarders of the eyebrows. In a sense, each eyebrow can be viewed as a cosmetic unit, just as the scalp, with transition zones of fine hair around much of the perimeter. As with the frontal hairline and temples, this fine hair may be replicated by removing or producing controlled, intentional damage to the bulb (cutting off part or all of the bottom) of a normal terminal follicle. The practice of using all fine hair for the eyebrows is incorrect since the eyebrows, like the scalp, require a central area of greater density, and bulk, and this is best accomplished with intact (but in this case individual) hair follicles. In all cases, multiple sessions are needed for a complete eyebrow restoration.

because i always see posts on hear of people saying they loss density on fin cuz of the shed and it didnt get better is this possible because im worried that may happen, Ive seen other ppl say its impossible to lose hair on it.

In my practice, I have never seen finasteride cause hair loss but I have seen genetic hair loss move rapidly evolve while a person is on finasteride.

If you are having hernia pain it is probably due to the hernia and you should see your doctor. Finasteride will not effect the hernia

Your story is pretty typical from what patients tell me. Many people don’t know that they have a decreased sex drive and some even report an increased sex drive.

Finasteride – 1 month from tressless

After stopping minoxidil, have u seen a story where someone maintained these hairs with finasteride?

If the hairs that grew are minoxidil induced, then they are minoxidil dependent hairs that will disappear when stopping minoxidil. Finasteride will not hold those minoxidil dependent hairs.

No, finasteride can not cause thyroid problems.

There seems to be a lot of different opinions floating around regarding it’s long term effectiveness … With consistent use, does it maintain it’s therapeutic effects, or does your genetically predetermined Norwood level eventually develop as you age despite taking it? I’ve seen some people state that it continues to have it’s effects for as long as it’s taken but then others state that it only delays the inevitable and if you are let’s say genetically programmed to be Norwood 5, that you are going to eventually go there despite finasteride use? What is the actual case? (I know there’s different variables and there’s a small percentage of people who are non responders, but I just mean in general).

Finasteride always works to (1) slow hair loss (2) stop hair loss or (3) reverse hair loss. The aggressiveness of the body’s genetic hair loss is a variable. Apoptosis (cell death) occurs with genetic alopecia. We believe that each hair on the head is programmed to grow only a certain number of hair cycles. Once those cycles are reached, the hairs die. Finasteride seems to alter the duration of these cycles, possibly the number of hair cycles you can achieve, but this is just a guess. Good question.