Author: Dr. William Rassman

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Mental and libido issues with finasteride, are they real?

Basically it’s all in my head and I’m really struggling with it. I’ve been on 0.5mg of Finasteride for about 7 months, I have my ups and downs but it’s worked wonders for my hair.

When I started I couldn’t get a hard on during sex, id wake up with morning wood so I know it’s not a physical issue but a mental one. that led me to stop taking fin for about 10 days.

I hopped back on, and I had a great mentality I just took it on got on with my day no sexual problems at all. But then I started to overthink things and my brain got the better off me, now I’m back to square one, I wake up with morning wood, and I even get hard during sex but it can never stay because it’s constantly on my mind during sex I can’t think of anything else apart from if I’m not going to be able to get it up.

Is this anxiety? And has anyone suffered from this?

It’s getting to the point where I’m thinking of coming off Finasteride, but I really like what it’s done for my hair. Any advice would be great.

It sounds like your physiology is working well; however, psychologically, you can talk yourself into anything. I always tell my patients that if I told then that if they breathed the air in my office and I told them that they would be impotent that night, they would be. Young men are easily influenced by much of what is published on these forums and it can be significant enough that they may not be candidates for finasteride.


2020-06-23 15:22:38Mental and libido issues with finasteride, are they real?

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Merck’s Vioxx Doctor Hit List

Hey Doc,

I came across a interesting article recently related to Merck, I thought I would pass it your way. It’s about Merck creating a doctor “hit list” for doctors who were against prescribing there medications.

Vioxx maker Merck and Co drew up doctor hit list

I wanted to get your thoughts. Thanks

Clearly, the facts that will be presented at trial will reflect the truth of any claims. I’d like to see the outcome before I render an opinion.


2009-05-12 11:42:41Merck’s Vioxx Doctor Hit List

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Merck’s Propecia Patent Only Applies to the Process?

Hi from England.

It was mentioned on this blog that no reputable company would infringe on the patent Merck has for 1mg finasteride. However, this is irrelevant because if the drug is made abroad (e.g. by Cipla in India)the patent only applies to the process used to make the drug.

1mg Finasteride is 1mg Finasteride. Truth be told, Merck are ripping people off, and all for a brand name. I’m currently taking a reputable “generic” and my hair is improving after 5 months. Ah the wonders of the free global market.

Like I said, 1mg Finasteride is 1mg Finasteride.

I allowed the comments about Merck, because they reflect a view that may or may not be correct. Patents generally extend to the markets where the patented products are sold. I can not comment on the finasteride patent, for I don’t have an answer for you. As representatives from Merck do read this blog regularly, maybe someone from within the company would send me an email and I would either post it or reflect upon the content in it without posting the full communication.

I am not a lawyer and would have to review all of their documents in detail to render a layman’s opinion, something that will not add value to you or your question.

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Mesalamine and Hair Loss

I have ulcerative colitis and have experienced Telogen effluvium a couple of times. I recently had a very small flare up and my Dr. put me on mesamaline enemas. I have been on them for about a month and noticed that my hair is falling out….this can’t be because of extreme blood loss or anything because I haven’t had that with the UC. Does mesamaline enemas cause hair loss. Secondly, with TE, the hair loss happens for about 5 months, when a med causes hair loss will the hair loss stop immediately when i quit the drug? Thank you

There is a remote connection between mesalamine and hair loss. “Slight hair loss” is listed as a rare side effect from this medication. See the full list of possible side effects here. Looking at the potency of this medication in impacting rapidly growing cells, I am not surprised to expect such a relationship. Your ulcerative colitis in itself will cause hair loss when it is active in the form of telogen effluvium.

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Does Mesotherapy Halp Hair Loss?

Sir I have male pattern baldness. I m currently taking finisteride and applying minoxidil 5%. Sir what are your views on mesotherapy with dermaheal HL. Does it halts hairloss and stimulates regrowth?

meso

There is no drug or treatment that “halts” hair loss. Male Pattern Balding (MPB) is a genetic trait. The only two medications that is approved or proven is Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine. Even these proven medications do not halt hair loss completely. In the end genes win out.

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MFG, MUG, and FUT

I have been reading about Multiunit Family Groups (MFGs) and Multi Unit Groups (MUGs) which are felt by those who do them to be as good as Follicular Unit Transplants. These claims are very confusing. I met with a doctor last week who does MUGs and he stated that they are essentially the same as Follicular Unit Transplants. Is that true?

The reason that many people use MUGs or MFGs is that they can not or will not put the effort in learning or mastering the Follicular Unit Grafting techniques which are clearly more difficult and more expensive to deliver. There is a great movement to show equality between MUGs and MFGs and the golden standard Follicular Unit Transplants, which is absolutely not the case. At the ISHRS convention these past few years, some doctors showed off patients with MUGs and MFGs. They were at the same session as patients with final results from Follicular Unit Transplants and they are clearly not as good on close inspection. Like the “Emperor’s New Clothes’ , the MUGs and MFGs proponents want to believe that it is something that it is not.

Clearly, the use of MUGs and MFGs are better, much better than the old large plugs of yesterday. But they are just smaller plugs made up of groups of Follicular Units which when placed into MUGs and MFGs, tend to become compressed and look ‘stalky’. Real Follicular Unit Transplants are more difficult to do, but the quality on close inspection with Follicular Unit Transplantation can not be told from God’s work in the best of hands, most of the time.

William Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet“, but the MUGs and MFGs doctors might modify this famous quote by declaring that a synthetic paper rose with perfume on it is exactly the same as a real rose for all practical purposes because it may (from a distance) look like a rose.

I think that Shakespeare was talking only about real roses and I am talking only about what God had designed in his original plan for us. We are naturally put together with Follicular Units, not MUGs and MFGs. Sorry if I offended anybody here.

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Mesotherapy with commercial Korean made product – nice results shown

I was impressed with the product used in this study. I don’t know if it is available in the US

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hirotaka_Suga/publication/274396959_Hair_Regeneration_Treatment_Using_Adipose-Derived_Stem_Cell_Conditioned_Medium_Follow-up_With_Trichograms/links/56a5630208ae1b6511329ed1/Hair-Regeneration-Treatment-Using-Adipose-Derived-Stem-Cell-Conditioned-Medium-Follow-up-With-Trichograms.pdf?origin=publication_detail

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Micro needling redness

when i microneedle i achieve redness all over the scalp, but within the hour the redness goes away and by the morning it’s completely gone and i feel no pain at all. am i doing it wrong? is there no inflammation?

Some people have Histamine positive skin which turns red easily. If you scratch your forehead with your finger nail and it turns red in a few minutes, then you have Histamine positive skin. It just takes longer to lose the red color. Microneedling is becoming more and more popular to bring back the hair from the micro-wounds it creates. It does work on some people


2020-07-27 15:21:50Micro needling redness

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Microblading gone wrong

I had my eyebrows microbladed six months ago and the results are horrendous. How do I get rid of this ugly look quickly?

There are laser that are very superficial like the Q Switch laser that could take out the inks. There is a risk that you might lose your eyebrows if the inks were placed deep in which case you might then need an eyebrow transplant.


2020-11-05 12:48:35Microblading gone wrong

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micro RNA grows hair in mice

This article was published however, I am not impressed that this will cross-over into humans. You judge for yourself.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200727145808.htm


2020-08-03 11:44:38micro RNA grows hair in mice