Author: Dr. William Rassman

So I went to a GP as I wanted to get a prescription for Finasteride. Of course the doctor had never heard of the drug and apparently he had never had anyone come to him about hair loss. He started reading about the drug online and asked if I had tried minoxidil. I told him that I have been on minoxidil for two weeks but I wanted to use both treatments together. He responded to this by telling me that I should only use one treatment at a time and that I would have to choose which one I wanted to use. I told him I’d choose Finasteride and he wrote me script for it. I’m still considering using the two treatments together as I can’t find anywhere that says there’s something wrong with using these two treatments together. Has anyone else heard of this before and do you think that I should still use Minoxidil and Finasteride together anyways?

Brief History: I’m a 21 year old male, started noticing my hairline receding 2 years ago, it has been receding very slowly ever since but my hair loss has progressed to the point where I need to stop it before it becomes too noticeable. No hair loss on the crown and all my hair is still very thick.

If you have a balding or thinning area already, using minoxidil on it in addition to finastetide is something I often recommend. I like to get a HAIRCHECK test on all of my patients to be able to measure the progression or the reversal of hair loss while you are under treatment.

In the US, this type of surgery would be considered malpractice. You have almost certainly used more than half of your donor hair for the recipient area that was transplanted, so if you lose more hair behind this, you may not have enough hair left to follow the hair loss behind the transplanted area. You must recognize that hair loss is generally a progressive process and you need to have a Master Plan to account for the progressive nature of your hairloss. I hope that you don’t bald further but if you do, find an honorable doctor who understands such situations and will work with you with a high standard of care and management. Most young men are limited to between 5000-7000 FUE grafts during their lifetime unless their donor density is very high.

You are correct to wait until you are older to be sure where your balding pattern will show up so you will know what you are in store for. Your family history might indicate where your balding may be going. Look at your brothers, uncles, father and grandparents on both sides of the family to see what they hair loss pattern is/was, Usually by the age of 25, you will know and you can then build a Master Plan with your doctor.

Rather than obsess over your situation, meet with a doctor who is in this field of hair restoration and start building a Master Plan for your hair loss. I usually start by performing a HAIRCHECK instrument test on my patients to determine a baseline for the hair loss. Then, I start medications which would be appropriate for someone of your age. I follow the progress over a year or two. If the balding continues and gets worse, I might then consider a hair transplant but I must know you and you should get to know and trust your doctor over that time he treats you with medications. With trust, you can get your hair back and address your depression by taking action.

Balding gave me the final punch into depression, who else? from tressless

This type of response is what I would expect in this age group

You are a great candidate for medications and microneedling. Your age means that the hair loss is recent and your chances of reversal of the hair loss are good.